Learn English with Songs – Africa by Toto

The song “Africa” was a hit single by the rock band Toto in 1982. It is a very famous song and the tune is easily recognizable. Do you like it? It makes us want to travel.

Ok, if you’re new here and don’t know how these lessons work:

1. Read the lyrics
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. Listen and sing 

Lyrics

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in twelve-thirty flight
Her moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say: “Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you”

It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what’s right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what’s deep inside, frightened of this thing that I’ve become

Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you

It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

Vocabulary

Echoing – a sound that is a copy of another sound and that is produced when sound waves bounce off a surface (such as a wall).

Whispers – to speak very softly or quietly.

Flight – the act of flying : the act of moving through the air by the use of wings.

Moonlit – lighted by the moon.

Salvation – something that saves someone or something from danger or a difficult situation.

Hurry – to move, act, or go quickly.

Drag me away – to force (yourself) to move or to go to a place when you are tired, busy, etc..

Bless – to make (something or someone) holy by saying a special prayer.

Wild dogs – the African wild dog, also called Cape hunting dog or painted dog, typically roams the open plains and sparse woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa.

Restless – feeling nervous or bored and tending to move around a lot : not relaxed or calm.

Longing – a strong desire for something or someone.

Solitary – without anyone or anything else : not involving or including anyone or anything else.

Seek – to search for (someone or something) : to try to find (someone or something).

Cure – something (such as a drug or medical treatment) that stops a disease and makes someone healthy again.

Song