Toto

Released: February 26, 1988

Songwriter: Jimmy Webb Steve Lukather Joseph Williams David Paich

Producer: Bill Payne George Massenburg Toto

[Verse 1]
Everything's gonna be alright boys
Help is on the way
Hold your head up high now
There's no need to cry now
We're not running anymore

Leave the politics behind boys
They're not working anymore
There's so much more at stake here
It's make or break here
Haven't we been here before?
Well come on!

[Pre-Chorus]
Tell me what we're waiting for

[Chorus]
You gotta remember
You don't have to be afraid
You still have the freedom to learn
And say what you wanna say
You gotta remember
Don't let 'em take away
The land we call the home of the brave

[Verse 2]
Who sings the song of the people?
You don't hear it anymore
I heard it late last summer
To the beat of a different drummer
It never sounded quite like this before

So you're trying to shake this feeling
That trouble's right outside the door
You lie awake each dark night
Like a time bomb wound up too tight
A storm in waiting, just offshore
Well, come on!

[Pre-Chorus]
Tell me what we're waiting for

[Chorus]3x
You gotta remember
You don't have to be afraid
You still have the freedom to learn
And say what you wanna say
You gotta remember
Don't let 'em take away
The land we call the home of the brave

Toto is an American rock band formed in 1977 in Van Nuys in Los Angeles, California. The band’s current lineup consists of Joseph Williams (lead vocals), David Paich (keyboards, vocals), Steve Porcaro (keyboards), Steve Lukather (guitars, vocals), Shem von Schroeck (bass), and Shannon Forrest (drums). Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz.

David Paich and Jeff Porcaro had played together as session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band. David Hungate, Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, and Bobby Kimball were recruited before their first album release. The band enjoyed great commercial success in the late 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the band’s eponymous debut released in 1978. With the release of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Toto IV from 1982, Toto became one of the best-selling music groups of their era. They are best known for the Top 5 hits “Hold the Line”, “Rosanna”, and “Africa”. Several changes to the lineup have been made over the years. Hungate left in 1982 followed by Kimball in 1984 but rejoined the band in 1998 until 2008. Jeff Porcaro died in 1992 of a heart attack. Hungate rejoined Toto as a touring musician and later a band member. In 2008, Lukather announced his departure from the band, and the remaining band members later went their separate ways. In the summer of 2010, Toto reformed and went on a short European tour, with a new lineup, to benefit Mike Porcaro, who had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and was no longer an active member of the band.

The band has released a total of 17 albums, and have sold over 40 million albums to date. The group was honored with several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.

more tracks from the album

The Essential Toto (Re-release)

From the albums

The Seventh One (1988)
The Essential Toto (Re-release) (2004)

Toto popular songs

Home Of The BraveToto

Toto

The Essential Toto (Re-release)