For the past year, the @WeezerAfrica Twitter account has been leading a valiant effort to convince Rivers Cuomo and Co. to record or otherwise perform a rendition of Toto’s 1982 hit “Africa”. While the sublime greatness of the song is a truth universally acknowledged, the #WeezerCoverAfrica campaign has not produced its intended results.
Though, that’s not to say there haven’t been any results… In an equally valiant effort to troll their “Africa”-loving fans, Weezer just released a studio cover of Toto’s lesser 1982 hit “Rosanna”. The band announced the song’s arrival by tweeting it to @WeezerAfrica, an account that, according to Noisey, is run by a 14-year-old Weezer fan named Mary.
It’s hard to tell whether or not the “Rosanna” cover will placate or infuriate the #WeezerCoverAfrica campaigners. Mary, for her part, tweeted “#WeezerCoverAfrica turned into #WeeerCoveringRosanna ???”
Weezer – “Rosanna”
Still, we haven’t yet heard from the campaign’s most famous proponent, who happens to be Toto’s own David Paich. Back in December, the keyboardist, vocalist and “Africa” songwriter shared an article about the campaign to his official Facebook page along with the message, “Hey Rivers Cuomo, I’m just gonna leave this right here…”
In any case, Weezer will kick off a co-headlining tour with Pixies on June 22nd. If you’re interested in seeing one of those shows—or perhaps even following them all summer in the hopes of catching that elusive “Africa” cover—you can check out their upcoming tour dates here.
[H/T – Pitchfork]