Which one is your favorite? - XXXIX -

For everyone, there are some songs that cannot be covered because the originals have so many memories and life experiences that the cover versions can never fulfill. This song is one of them...
However, I really tried hard to find some good ones, that at least to a certain extent do not lack the feeling of the original.

Here is the song for this week;

"Africa"

It's a song recorded by the American rock band Toto in 1981, for their fourth studio album Toto IV, and released as the album's third single on September 30, 1982, through Columbia Records. The song was written by band members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro.

The song reached number one on the United States' Billboard Hot 100 chart and is the band's only Billboard number one. The song remained at the top for a single week (February 5, 1983). "Africa" also peaked in the top ten in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

This song tells the story of a man who comes to Africa and must make a decision about the girl who comes to see him. He is enamored with the country, but must leave if he is going to be with her.

With introspective lyrics like, "I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become," we wondered if this song involved a bit of personal reflection. Turned out, it did. In our interview with David Paich, he explained: "There's a little metaphor involved here, because I was at the age where I was so immersed in my work, 24/7, that at times I felt like I was becoming just a victim of my work. There was a little bit of autobiographical information in there: being consumed by my work, not having time to go out and pursue getting married and raising a family and doing all the things that other people do that were my age at the time."

The video was directed by Steve Barron, who also did "Rosanna" and many other early MTV favorites. Toto was one of the few American bands that was making videos even before MTV, and after the network launched in 1981, their Barron-directed clips earned them lots of exposure.

"Africa" is a very stylized, conceptual video with memorable imagery and an abstract storyline. It finds David Paich in an African library trying to find the book that matches a torn clipping he carries. There is a cute librarian, taxidermy, a burning spear and a globe. What's going on is clearly open to interpretation.

Here are the 3 versions I picked for you;

• Weezer - "Africa"

• The Lounge Kittens - "Africa"

• Eric Benét - "Africa"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.