# Quick question about “Africa”... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376 "2018-06-03T23:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376/21 "2018-06-05T07:36:52Z")
The rain sneezed. He said “Bless you!” 🙂 When I was quite young, there was an election, and afterwards a new government was sworn in. I knew nothing about politics, but had recently heard a few interesting words which I knew were called swearing. When I noticed the comment on the news about the swearing-in of the government, I imagined some rough-looking official saying something to these new politicians along the lines of “Well, shit. You are fucking well in.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376/22 "2018-06-05T12:35:29Z")
> [@Lizard](#): > > How and why does one “bless” rainfall? In the sense of “Well, bless your heart!” I never truly got the story in this song - a guy’s going to the airport to pick up his beloved girlfriend, and they never more will part yada yada, typical song stuff. But he’s also having a hallucination about being on a safari in east Africa, and the hallucination is gradually taking over his conscious being? Is the girlfriend going to take him straight to the sanitarium, I hope? Captivating music, of course. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376/23 "2018-06-06T17:19:02Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Yes. I like this song precisely because I can so easily switch between harmony and melody. It’s fun. > > Another one that I do this with, if I may introduce that into the conversation, is [Shout](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye7FKc1JQe4), by Tears for Fears. IMO, the best songs are ones in which I can sing different parts at any time. Some of my favorites I want to hear over and over because I can’t decide which I like more: “Haven’t We Been Here Before” by Styx is one. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376/24 "2018-06-06T19:47:20Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > The near memetic Toto song, of course. > > By my hearing, the melody of the first line of the chorus (“It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you,” before the harmony comes in) is repeated in the next two lines. What I wonder is, when you imagine this song or sing along, when, if ever, do you switch over to the harmony? > > By the way, with all the attention this song’s been getting from young’uns these days, I tried to imagine what an equivalent for me would be, ie if I were doing this at their age, I’d be doing it with a song released in 19xx, if I were going back an equal amount of time. > > It made me feel old. ☹ I’m a big time singalong person. I sing the harmony part of almost all songs when there is one. Sometimes if first verse of a song doesn’t have a harmony, and I’ll sing the harmony as it exists in the second verse, for fun. In the case of this particular chorus, I probably would not sing a harmony into the first line. It is deliberately left out in all 3 choruses. It’s a nice build-up the way it is. I get enough harmony out of the rest of the chorus for my “harmony fix.” ETA: I just noticed the Low and Weezer version harmonizes the first line. 😃 Seems like a common cover thing. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376/25 "2018-06-06T19:55:46Z")
I can barely listen to this song because of the stress on the wrong syllable in Serengeti. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376/26 "2019-09-12T22:46:26Z")
By the way, bumping this because I just came upon the Weezer video for _Africa_, even though it’s been out for awhile. It’s Weezer’s recording, but the musicians in the video are all stand-ins. Rivers Cuomo is being imitated by Linwood’s favorite son, Weird Al Yankovic. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mk5Dwg5zm2U/hqdefault.jpg "Weezer - Africa (starring Weird Al Yankovic)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk5Dwg5zm2U) ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376/27 "2019-09-14T14:53:48Z")
Africa on a harp. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yyeuOmieaMM/maxresdefault.jpg "Toto - Africa // Amy Turk, Harp") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyeuOmieaMM) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-africa/815376.md?page=1)