Africa

Evan Slotterbach
CMP 100
Professor Nicole McClure
October x, 2021

Growing up, my mother and I always bonded over songs. Whenever we were in the car

on the way to school or chatting in the family room, music was always a subject that was brought

up. Music would always make us smile, sing, dance and it would always brighten the room

around us. Some of our favorite songs are “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats and “Africa” by

Toto. My favorite of the two is “Safety Dance” and my mom's favorite is “Africa”. She loves the

song so much that it is her phone’s ringtone. I don’t love “Safety Dance” that much, but it is on

my playlist, and whenever I hear it, I think of her and smile.

My dad was a jazz guitarist in college, and I have been playing the trumpet coming up on

10 years now, so music is a big part of my family. I have played duets with my dad before. In

that moment, it felt like I was bonding with him. My mom was there too, and she agrees that it

was out first bonding moment. I have not played with him in a while, and I wish I could, but, my

mom and I’s dance parties happen quite frequently in the car. I always enjoy driving with my

mom, it is one of the few things I genially enjoy doing. There is never a dull moment with her.

Usually when we go on trips, or if the car ride is more than an hour, she lets me play my

playlist. The radio is the main source of music in her car, she listens to 95.7 Ben FM, a station

broadcasted out of Philadelphia that plays 80s and 90s rock. My playlist is almost always on

shuffle, but sometimes I like to manually move “Africa” to the top of the queue of songs that are
going to play. I do this because it takes her a second to realize it is actually “Africa” that is

playing. When she finally realizes it is playing, her face lights up and she starts singing and

dancing. It makes me very happy to see her happy, so I absolutely love doing this whenever I get

the chance.

Since “Africa” is her ringtone, whenever her phone rings she does not answer it right

away, she lets it ring for a bit so she can listen to it and hum along. She tells me that whenever

she hears “Africa”, she thinks of me and smiles. On top of that, whenever it comes on the radio

or plays at her work, she will send me a picture of the screen that displays what song is playing.

She has been doing this for about 3-4 years now and I always enjoy getting those texts because I

know that she is in her happy place.