♫ Rosanna ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I rather forgot, but Roger requested this one last week when I was playing a hodge-podge of Christmas-themed music, so I promised him I would play it after Christmas.  Thankfully, it is now after Christmas and so … this one’s for you, Sir Roger!

When David Paich wrote this song back in 1982, the band members initially played along with the common assumption that the song was based on Rosanna Arquette, who was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro at the time.  Paich, however, says that  the song is based on numerous girls he had known.  Arquette herself played along with the joke, commenting in an interview that the song was about “my showing up at 4 a.m., bringing them juice and beer at their sessions.”  Porcaro and Arquette broke up shortly thereafter.

The West Side Story-inspired video was directed by Steve Barron and set in a stylized urban streetscape, with Rosanna represented by a dancer whose bright red dress contrasts with the gray surroundings. The band plays within a chain-link fence enclosure. Cynthia Rhodes is featured as the lead dancer Rosanna, which led to her being cast in Staying Alive the following year. Patrick Swayze was also uncredited as a dancer in the music video and he and Rhodes would both star in the movie Dirty Dancing.

Rosanna charted at #2 in the U.S., #4 in Canada, and #12 in the UK.

Rosanna

By Toto

All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is see your eyes
Rosanna, Rosanna
Never thought that a girl like you could ever care for me, Rosanna

All I wanna do in the middle of the evening is hold you tight
Rosanna, Rosanna
I didn’t know you were looking for more than I could ever be

Not quite a year since she went away, Rosanna, yeah
Now she’s gone and I have to say

Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, Rosanna, yeah
Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, Rosanna, yeah

I can see your face still shining through the window on the other side
Rosanna, Rosanna
I didn’t know that a girl like you could make me feel so sad, Rosanna

All I wanna tell you is now you’ll never ever have to compromise
Rosanna, Rosanna
I never thought that losing you could ever hurt so bad

Not quite a year since she went away, Rosanna, yeah
Now she’s gone and I have to say

Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, Rosanna, yeah
Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, Rosanna, yeah

Not quite a year since she went away, Rosanna, yeah
Now she’s gone and I have to say

Meet you all the way (yeah-yeah), meet you all the way, Rosanna, yeah
Meet you all the way (ooh-ooh, yeah), meet you all the way, Rosanna, yeah

Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, Rosanna, yeah
Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, Rosanna, yeah

Writer/s: David Paich
Publisher: editionPlus Verlags GmbH, Spirit Music Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

27 thoughts on “♫ Rosanna ♫”

  4. Pingback: ♫ Rosanna ♫ — Filosofa’s Word | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  5. Great song. I had forgotten all about this one. Love it! Still in love with Patrick Swayze after all these years.
    Did I ever tell you about the nurse I worked with and Patrick? Well, going to tell it now just in case I didn’t. She had a life sized cutout of Patrick standing beside her desk. All of us were in love with him and said hello to the cutout every morning. One morning though he wasn’t there. It turned out that someone had left a window cracked open when they left the night before and after the door was locked that window set off the alarms. Police came, shadow of man was seen through the blinds, police entered with drawn weapons. Not sure if this is done everywhere, but here when a weapon is drawn there is a lot of paperwork required. Poor Patrick was banished from the building as the officers were lowering their blood pressure after finding him.
    Not exactly something that goes with the song, but as I said, I love Patrick Swayze!

    Liked by 1 person

    • OH MY!!!! No, you had never told me that story before, and I’m sure I would have remembered it! Poor Patrick!!! I bet those officers felt pretty foolish, too! I’m glad you enjoyed the song! Hugs, my friend!

      Liked by 1 person

      • My understanding at the time was that they were pretty put out because of all the paperwork they had to do. One of them was a social worker at Hospice and he kept us up to date about the moods at the station. He wasn’t one of the guys who went in the building that night though. If he had been there he would hae known it was Patrick and kept them out while he used his entry key to go in. It was so sad though to watch Lois drive out with Patrick propped up across her back seat.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Thanks so much Jill. The 1980s witnessed some innovative with bands which could produce multi-layered, rich music which I would describe as a pop-music parallel with operatic and orchestral styles. Music that could sweep over the sense not because of deep poetic lyrics or even virtuoso music but simply by the endeavour to produce a sound and an experience folk could relate to and immerse themselves in.
    A much decried era by some sections of the music press and folk who claimed to know what ‘real music’ was.
    The fact is a great deal of this reached out to people and resonated with them. Thus became timeless.
    (Confession I spent years trying to get a finger-snapping rhythm to jive with the lines
    ‘Not quite a year since she went away, Rosanna, yeah
    Now she’s gone and I have to say’ – never got it right oh well.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I think sometimes people try to make music be something more than it needs be. Many a time, I like a song just because I like the sound. Most of the time, I hear the music before I know the lyrics, so I just like it because it resonates. Although there are some songs I like because of the deep meaning of the lyrics, such as John Lennon’s “Imagine”, it’s not a criteria for me to like a song. In this, rawgod and I disagree, for to him it’s more about the lyrics than the sound. I’m glad you enjoyed Rosanna!!!

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.