'Africa' cover with a Bosendorfer and a looper

[Adan]

Then I looked at the title phrase "I bless the rains down in Africa" and realized it has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the lyrics.

 

Really? Hmm. Doesn't Toto deserve the same poetic license as, say, David Bowie, whose lyrics often don't make any overt sense?

 

But to me this isn't even a big stretch. Some do-gooding dude has a relationship with the dark continent that in the context of the song is somehow reaching a revelatory stage . . . hence the "I bless the rains . . .". It doesn't make perfect sense because it doesn't have to.

 

I loved this song when it first came out, then like so much pop music, it got overplayed and I got tired of it because, in my view, it's just a crafty pop tune, it's not "The Weight" or anything like that that I'll be appreciating until I die.

 

I've done a solo piano version of it for a few years now because it always gets a good reaction and it's fun to play even if it's not a great vehicle for improve.

 

By the way, look at the lyrics for "The Weight." Do they may much sense? It's a guy wandering through a town, maybe, who knows . . .

[El Lobo]

Doesn't Toto deserve the same poetic license as, say, David Bowie, whose lyrics often don't make any overt sense?

Everybody deserves poetic license ... as long as the poetry is good.

 

It doesn't make perfect sense because it doesn't have to.

No, it doesn't have to make perfect sense. But it does have to convey a feeling or an impression or something.

 

in my view, it's just a crafty pop tune, it's not "The Weight" or anything like that that I'll be appreciating until I die.

Exactly. "Africa" (and Toto) are about popcraft, not great songwriting. "The Weight" on the other hand is great songwriting because it's personal, yet expressive in a universal feeling sort of way. It's poetry.

 

By the way, look at the lyrics for "The Weight." Do they may much sense? It's a guy wandering through a town, maybe, who knows . . .

Taken very literally, in a concrete way, the lyrics don't make a lot of sense. But as expressions of feeling, of a complex sense of place and emotion, the lyrics make a lot of sense to me as poetry. It's why the song is a classic.

 

In Levon Helm's autobiography This Wheel's On Fire: Levon Helm And The Story Of The Band, he explained:

'We had two or three tunes, or pieces of tunes, and 'The Weight' was one I would work on. Robbie had that bit about going down to Nazareth - Pennsylvania, where the Martin guitar factory is at. The song was full of our favorite characters. 'Luke' was Jimmy Ray Paulman. 'Young Anna Lee' was Anna Lee Williams from Turkey Scratch. 'Crazy Chester' was a guy we all knew from Fayetteville who came into town on Saturdays wearing a full set of cap guns on his hips and kinda walked around town to help keep the peace, if you follow me. He was like Hopalong Cassidy, and he was a friend of the Hawks. Ronnie would always check with Crazy Chester to make sure there wasn't any trouble around town. And Chester would reassure him that everything was peaceable and not to worry, because he was on the case. Two big cap guns, he wore, plus a toupee! There were also 'Carmen and the Devil', 'Miss Moses' and 'Fanny,' a name that just seemed to fit the picture. (I believe she looked a lot like Caladonia.) We recorded the song maybe four times. We weren't really sure it was going to be on the album, but people really liked it. Rick, Richard, and I would switch the verses around among us, and we all sang the chorus: Put the load right on me!"

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=420

[Mjazz]

Steve Luke Lukather, guitarist:

 

If this is a hit, I said, Ill run naked down Hollywood Boulevard. I thought the song had a brilliant tune, but I remember listening to the lyrics and going: Dave, man, Africa? Were from north Hollywood. What the fuck are you writing about? I bless the rains down in Africa? Are you Jesus, Dave?

 

Then we made a video that was so full cheese. They built this stage that looked like a pile of giant books and stood us on top of it. You can see me laughing. I hated videos and I hate the 80s for the mullet I used to have and the clothes they put us in to make us look androgynous. We are not that band. On the cover of the single I have a look on my face that says: Im gonna kill you. And now I have to sit here and eat my words because Africa has become a standard and Im very proud of David for it.

[Mjazz]

On the list of inane, lazy, WTF, but #1 hit lyrics, I think you'd definitely have to include these:

 

On the first part of the journey

I was looking at all the life

There were plants and birds and rocks and things

There was sand and hills and rings

The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz

And the sky with no clouds

The heat was hot and the ground was dry

But the air was full of sound

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

It felt good to be out of the rain

In the desert you can remember your name

'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

La, la

After two days in the desert sun

My skin began to turn red

After three days in the desert fun

I was looking at a river bed

And the story it told of a river that flowed

Made me sad to think it was dead

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

It felt good to be out of the rain

In the desert you can remember your name

'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

La, la

After nine days I let the horse run free

'Cause the desert had turned to sea

There were plants and birds and rocks and things

there was sand and hills and rings

The ocean is a desert with it's life underground

And a perfect disguise above

Under the cities lies a heart made of ground

But the humans will give no love

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

It felt good to be out of the rain

In the desert you can remember your name

'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

La, la

[El Lobo]

"Horse With No Name" and "Ventura Highway" should both be in the crappy songs thread.

[MojoGuyPan]

"Horse With No Name" and "Ventura Highway" should both be in the crappy songs thread.

 

Amen to that brother. Someone suggests either one of those for a set list and I'm out the door. Those tunes are garbage.

[DulceLabs.com]

"Horse With No Name" and "Ventura Highway" should both be in the crappy songs thread.

 

Amen to that brother. Someone suggests either one of those for a set list and I'm out the door.

 

Good to know!

[TommyRude]

"Horse With No Name" and "Ventura Highway" should both be in the crappy songs thread.

 

Amen to that brother. Someone suggests either one of those for a set list and I'm out the door.

 

Good to know!

:roll:

[mediocrepianist]

The comparison to Liberace is ridiculous. Musically for obvious reasons but showmanship wise as well. Liberace put a lot of flamboyance into his playing but most of it still treat the instrument with respect, this guy is almost beating up his piano. Could you imagine the reaction if a guitarist started going over his fret strings with a knife in the middle of song, why is slamming your piano case any different?

[MathOfInsects]

The comparison to Liberace is ridiculous. Musically for obvious reasons but showmanship wise as well. Liberace put a lot of flamboyance into his playing but most of it still treat the instrument with respect, this guy is almost beating up his piano. Could you imagine the reaction if a guitarist started going over his fret strings with a knife in the middle of song, why is slamming your piano case any different?

 

FWIW, plenty of guys use knives on their strings, including the man widely credited with originating the Delta Blues, Henry Sloan. We (the general public) have a music called "the Blues" because the composer W.C. Handy watched a man playing guitar in a train station. The man was using a knife as a slide. Handy then went off and formalized some of what he'd heard, including assigning scale tones to those "slid" pitches. (He also formalized the 12-bar and AAB structure, contrary to the common misconception that these elements had come from the original practitioners themselves.)

 

The man he heard is generally thought to have been Henry Sloan, who is believed to be the first player/singer to put field shouts to music, making him the progenitor of the music that came to be called the Blues. Plenty since then have used knives for slides.

 

As for beating up the piano, well, plenty of players play or composers write for the "inside" of the piano or the percussive possibilities of the outside, given the incredibly efficient natural amplification of the instrument. That's been pretty commonplace for at least the last 100 years. But as others point out, playing the inside will destroy the felts or put finger oil on the strings, so this guy had some cojones doing it to that particular piano.

[Joe Muscara]

The comparison to Liberace is ridiculous. Musically for obvious reasons but showmanship wise as well. Liberace put a lot of flamboyance into his playing but most of it still treat the instrument with respect, this guy is almost beating up his piano. Could you imagine the reaction if a guitarist started going over his fret strings with a knife in the middle of song, why is slamming your piano case any different?

 

FWIW, plenty of guys use knives on their strings, including the man widely credited with originating the Delta Blues, Henry Sloan. We (the general public) have a music called "the Blues" because the composer W.C. Handy watched a man playing guitar in a train station. The man was using a knife as a slide. Handy then went off and formalized some of what he'd heard, including assigning scale tones to those "slid" pitches. (He also formalized the 12-bar and AAB structure, contrary to the common misconception that these elements had come from the original practitioners themselves.)

 

The man he heard is generally thought to have been Henry Sloan, who is believed to be the first player/singer to put field shouts to music, making him the progenitor of the music that came to be called the Blues. Plenty since then have used knives for slides.

And Bill Frisell is known for bending the necks of his guitar while he plays.

[xKnuckles]

I cannot comment on the piano playing in the original video, as I was unable to hear it above the noise his shirt was making.....

[Six-string-man]

I cannot comment on the piano playing in the original video, as I was unable to hear it above the noise his shirt was making.....

 

 

MIAOW! That's the cattiest I've heard you be in a long time Anne.

[xKnuckles]

I cannot comment on the piano playing in the original video, as I was unable to hear it above the noise his shirt was making.....

 

 

MIAOW! That's the cattiest I've heard you be in a long time Anne.

Not at all Frank. I never said I didn't like it, I simply observed how all the sound limiters in the vicinity were tripped as soon as I turned that video on (wearing headphones...)......

[Six-string-man]

I cannot comment on the piano playing in the original video, as I was unable to hear it above the noise his shirt was making.....

 

 

MIAOW! That's the cattiest I've heard you be in a long time Anne.

Not at all Frank. I never said I didn't like it, I simply observed how all the sound limiters in the vicinity were tripped as soon as I turned that video on (wearing headphones...)......

 

 

Oh well! That's a lot better then!

[MathOfInsects]

Holy cow do I still hate that video.

[xKnuckles]

I cannot comment on the piano playing in the original video, as I was unable to hear it above the noise his shirt was making.....

 

 

MIAOW! That's the cattiest I've heard you be in a long time Anne.

Not at all Frank. I never said I didn't like it, I simply observed how all the sound limiters in the vicinity were tripped as soon as I turned that video on (wearing headphones...)......

 

 

Oh well! That's a lot better then!

....But....I also never said I did like it..... Actually, it has become necessary for me to me to mention that because, since making my previous comment, I have started seeing adverts all over my iPad for extremely loud shirts. I am now inding myself having to wear sunglasses whilst using it in order to protect my hearing......