"Stranger in Town" is a hit song by American rock band Toto from their 1984 album '' Isolation''. It was the first single released from that album, reaching the top 30 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in December 1984. The song was the band's highest-ever charting Mainstream Rock track, eventually peaking at number 7. It was also a top 40 single in Australia, where it remains the fourth highest charting single by Toto, behind only "

Hold the Line "Hold the Line" is a song included by American rock band Toto on its 1978 eponymous debut studio album. It was written by the band's keyboardist David Paich, and lead vocals were performed by Bobby Kimball. "Hold the Line" was released by ...

", " Rosanna", and "

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

". The song was written by

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist, and secondary vocalist of the rock band Toto (band), Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrot ...

and

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundr ...

, and features Paich on lead vocals. Though

Bobby Kimball Robert Troy Kimball (born March 29, 1947) is an American retired singer best known as longtime frontman of the rock band Toto from 1977 to 1984 and again from 1998 to 2008. He has also performed as a solo artist and session singer. History ...

is officially credited as a guest musician on the album, having been fired from Toto, "Stranger in Town" was recorded while he was still a member of the group. The song was performed live during the 1985 Isolation tour as well as during the first leg of the subsequent Fahrenheit tour in October–November 1986 before being dropped for the second (European) leg of the tour. It then only resurfaced in the band's live set in 2015-16 (on the Toto XIV tour) and again in 2018 (40 Trips around the Sun tour).

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

(filmed in black and white and directed by

Steve Barron Steven Barron (born 4 May 1956) is an Irish-British filmmaker and music video director. Among the music videos he has directed are "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, " Burning Up (Madonna song), Burnin Up" by Madonna, "Summer of '69" and "Run t ...

) and lyrics to the song are based on the film '' Whistle Down the Wind'', about an escaped convict who runs into a group of children who mistake him for Jesus.Toto Encyclopedia: Music Videos
toto99.com. Actor

Brad Dourif Bradford Claude Dourif (; born March 18, 1950) is an American actor. He is known for voicing Chucky in the ''Child's Play'' franchise (1988–present), portraying Gríma Wormtongue in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series, and his Academy A ...

plays the convict, and new member Fergie Frederiksen appears as a murder victim. Dourif and Toto would also work on the movie ''

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

'' that same year. The band only appears briefly in the music video at the 2 minute 30 second mark of the song. In 1985, the video was nominated at the

MTV Music Video Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

for Best Direction.1985 VMA Winners
MTV.com.

Personnel

Toto

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

– guitars, backing vocals *

– lead and backing vocals, synthesizer *

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, and film music composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff ...

– synthesizer *

Mike Porcaro Michael Joseph Porcaro (May 29, 1955 – March 15, 2015) was an American bass player known for his work with the rock band Toto. He retired from touring in 2007 as a result of being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was t ...

– bass guitar *

– drums, percussion * Fergie Frederiksen – backing vocals

Additional musicians

*Mike Cotten – synthesizer * Tom Scott – saxophone *Gene Morford – bass vocal *

– backing vocal *

Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979, and from 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the so ...

- backing vocal

Charts

References

External links

Lyrics

YouTube video
1984 songs 1984 singles Toto (band) songs Songs written by David Paich Songs written by Jeff Porcaro Columbia Records singles Music videos directed by Steve Barron Black-and-white music videos Music based on films {{1980s-pop-song-stub