Papa Hemingway meets Paich and Porcaro (the keyboard player and drummer for the rock band Toto) at McSweeney's, who's apparently uncovered a long-lost novella from which the duo evidently pulled actual lines out to create "Africa," a number one hit song from 1983.
True? You decide:
From Hemingway:
"At the airport the young man heard far-off drums echoing in the night. He imagined the young woman in the plane sitting still, hearing whispers of a quiet conversation near the rear of the fuselage. He glanced down at his father’s wristwatch—12:30. The flight was on time."
And from the first verse of "Africa":
I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you"
Too bad Paich and Porcaro didn't use this gem of a line in the chorus: "His head spun from whiskey and soda. She was a damned nice woman. It would take a lot to drag him away from her."
