“I bless the rains down in Africa”? man, wtf? That’s what it was this whole time?
Some kid back then (I was six or seven back in '82) told me it was “I piss the rains down in Africa.” It seemed like bullshit since it would have been a cuss-word on the radio, not to mention it didn’t really make sense. But I’d be damned if I could come up with what else it could possibly be. It sure as hell sounded like “piss.” I wondered if the singer was speaking as some sort of demi-god? [edit: or having to piss so badly it could be metaphorically likened to a continental downpour?] I couldn’t distinguish the sounds of any of the other lyrics beyond “hurry boy she’s waiting there for you.” And certain songs with dirty words would get radio play, Nazareth’s “Hair of the Dog” said “son of a bitch,” and there were others. I eventually rejected the “piss” theory, but I wrestled with it mightily. Lends a lot of subtext to @NickyG’s toilet-fixture observation.
“Bless the rain”? Who blesses rain? I’ve heard of praying for rain, but blessing? smh at theists and their magical rituals.
Um . . . no, he’s the son of jazz pianist Marty Paich.
The older I get, the more I like Toto (and Steely Dan).
Until today, I thought it was “miss.”
At the age of 12 (when I first heard this) I had a very different impression of Africa, mostly based on presentations of widespread poverty. That someone (even from a fictional viewpoint) would miss the rains, or anything else, in Africa actually kind of turned that impression on its head for me.
IIRC these things were so temperamental that one dealer developed and installed a water cooling kit for it.
I mainly know about him from his work with Art Pepper, and didn’t know his son was/is in Toto until more recently.
Still the best Toto behind the scenes - the story of Rosanna:
It was always “I miss the rains down in Africa” for me. I’ve been mondegreened!
and let’s be honest, he was doing pretty well, but lost the bet on Serrr-en-geh-teeeee
I thought it was “I test the rains down in Africa”. There aren’t enough songs about meteorologists.
Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it… 
I always heard it as a clueless American song from guys trying to cash in by romanticizing exotic trips to Africa, where you can have like, bitchin times, dude: “Let’s catch some rays down in Africa!”
Toto did something other than Lynch’s Dune soundtrack?
Talk about epic guitar riffs! I watched Dune for the 400th or so time recently and man, the Toto soundtrack really did stand out. Great stuff.
Whaat? For more than 3 decades, I thought it was “I guess the rain’s down in Africa”, like “Yeah, man, we have no rain here because it’s, like, in Africa, man”
Oh boy!
I thought it was “I cast the rains down in Africa.” Presumably the singer/narrator had acquired god-like powers, which would further explain why he was “frightened of this thing that [he]'d become.”
If you’re still reading this thread, you really want to watch writer Steve Almond read his essay on this tune’s lyrics, “A Reluctant Exigesis.”
I think it’s funnier to read it yourself but it’s pretty hard to find online.
I like that it is a story about a man who is late to pick up a woman at the airport, presumably because he’s wasting too much time blessing rain instead of getting on the road. Even random old guys are like “you’re late dude, hurry up!”. Really though he’s stalling because the woman is apparently planning to take him elsewhere and the guy is too much in love with Africa to leave it.
Legendary
