Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo played a boatload of covers when he showed up solo in Chicago for a 27-song set last month, but notably missing from the setlist was Toto’s “Africa”, a song the Internet’s been lobbying Cuomo to cover for more than a year now. Well, in what’s a pretty brilliant troll move, Weezer has covered Toto’s other hit single, “Rosanna”, leaving an “Africa”-shaped hole in the hearts of fans.
That said, it’s a pretty great cover. As bright and buoyant as the original, the cover balances the track’s piano-led backbone with the big, crunchy riffs of the Toto era. Listen to it below.
The campaign to get Weezer to cover “Africa” was, as revealed by Noisey, started by a 14-year old named Mary, who runs the popular Twitter account @WeezerAfrica. Toto’s David Paich even hopped on the bandwagon, writing a Facebook post that appealed directly to Cuomo. This morning, Weezer’s official account tweeted the cover to @WeezerAfrica.
Really, “Rosanna” is more suited to Weezer anyway.
