"Never gonna give you up" has to be one of the most hated songs on the internet, and not because Rick Astley's track is so bad. Actually, I quite like it. It's because it has been used ad nauseam to play with people's expectations, in what years ago we knew as a rickroll. On the other side of the spectrum is Africa, by Toto, which has charmed entire generations since its creation to this very day, thirty-six years later. And no wonder... it's a great song!
According to Jeff Porcaro, the band's leader, the song is about a child's love for a continent he doesn't know, and about which he can only speak from what he has seen on TV. David Paich, its original composer, provides more details and clarifies that it all began in early 80s, after seeing a documentary on TV about all the death and suffering of the people of Africa, which moved him to tears. The images of the atrocities seen in that documentary would not leave his mind, and so he wanted to pour all that feeling into a song, imagining what it would be like to live there and what he would do in those circumstances.
The internet's love for the song has materialized in hundreds of covers made by fans, in every style imaginable, and by all kinds of artists. But it became even more evident when, days ago, an online petition that has been around since 2017 finally got the band Weezer to make a cover. This cover.
Personally, I had never heard of Weezer until they agreed to do the cover, after months of teasing. Nor can I say I like the result much, as it is too similar to the original and... for that I listen to the original! The idea of a cover, I think, is to shed new light on a classic. So, because I was left wanting more, I set out to compile the best covers of Africa, and here is the result of that search. Enjoy!
