“Africa” is the third single from Toto’s 1982 album titled Toto IV. It is the group’s most popular song and reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in early 1983.

The lyrics comprise a heartfelt (if somewhat fantastical and stereotyped) vision of the beauty of Africa. There are undercurrents of embodying the continent of Africa in a female figure that is referenced throughout the song.

Africa is, of course, an enormous continent full of a variety of cultures, but the lyrics touch on what a white kid growing up in 1970s America would have been exposed to in pop culture, as drummer Jeff Porcaro stated in an interview:

… a white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he’s never been there, he can only tell what he’s seen on TV or remembers in the past.