SWORD
The sword appeared on the sleeves of 'Toto', Hydra
'Toto IV', 'The 7th One', 'Past to Present' and TOTO XX. Jeff Porcaro explained
the story behind the sword and the rings in 1990:
"It came about when we finished recording our first album. We hired
an artist from San Francisco named Philip Garris, who had done
the Grateful Dead album covers from the Haight-Ashbury days, many
rock'n roll album covers. He came, listened to the record, went
back to San Francisco, painted and brought back the famous emblem
of the sword, the ring around the sword and the ribbons.
He explained that the sword... that he felt... his exact words
were that the music had... TOTO's music had a hard edge, the first
album, and it was powerful, but we did many different kinds of
music, so he said it was double-edge sword. And a song called
Manuela Run says 'Don't look now, you better watch that sword
that's hanging over you', the sword of Damocles. So first he said
OK, sword.
The stone ring represents a piece of work, an album, CD nowadays.
And the ribbons... it was the year of the child in 1979 when the
record came out, and the ribbons represented the => royal year of the child for the children. So
that's what the original emblem came from.
TOTO IV was taking the same idea and the rings mean the same thing.
1, 2, 3, 4... 4 albums, 4 rings. And if you notice on TOTO IV,
the ring that the hilt of the sword is in is brandnew polished.
The next ring... chip. The next ring... many chips. The last ring...
many chips, old. 4 albums, 4 rings."
Related Pages
Jeff PorcaroToto
Hydra
Toto IV
The Seventh One
Past to Present