"Rosalita" is Springsteen's musical autobiography. After touring relentlessly around the Jersey Shore, he finally signed a record deal and got some money, proving his naysayers wrong. Springsteen called the song "a kiss-off to everybody who counted you out, put you down, or decided you weren't good enough."
In 1974 and 1975, Springsteen would sometimes tell journalists that when he was 17, he was hot and heavy for a girl whose mother didn't approve and got a court order against him. She would call the cops if she saw him, so Bruce had to come by on the sly. He said this was the inspiration for "Rosalita," specifically the line, "Mama, she's home in the window, waitin' up for us."
Springsteen considers this the best love song he ever wrote, which he would often declare before performing it. It's proof that a love song does not have to be slow or sappy.
"Rosalita" has endured as one of Springsteen's most popular songs, but it took a long time to catch on. It was released his second album, The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, and wasn't issued as a single. The album sold so poorly that Columbia Records made it clear they were done with him if his next one didn't sell. It did: Born To Run was a runaway success that drew many new fans to his shows and to his back catalog. So most Springsteen fans heard "Rosalita" for the first time long after it was first released.
This is one of Springsteen's most popular live songs, and a dependable capper. It was the last song before the encore at most of his shows from 1974-1984; in 1999 during his E Street Band reunion tour, Springsteen played 15 sold-out shows at the Continental Airlines Arena (later known as the Izod centre) and he used "Rosalita" to close out the final show of the stand.
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Suggestion credit:
Kyle - Belleville, Canada
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This was one of the first songs to showcase Clarence Clemons on sax. With his bright suits and imposing size, he quickly became the most popular member of the E Street Band.
Along with Clemons and Springsteen, the other performers on this track are bass player Garry Tallent, piano player David Sancious, and drummer Vini Lopez. Both Sancious and Lopez left the band the following year, with Sancious forming his own group, Tone.
Springsteen didn't become a video star until 1984, when "
Dancing In The Dark" blew up on MTV. That year, with insatiable demand for all things Springsteen, they started airing video of his live performance of "Rosalita" recorded at a show in Phoenix on July 8, 1978. This same clip opens his first music video collection,
Video Anthology/1978–88, which was sold on VHS in 1989.
According to Diane Lozito, who was Springsteen's girlfriend around the time he was writing this song, he got the title from the name of her grandmother, Rose ("Rose Lozito" >> "Rosalita").
Springsteen wrote this to be a live show-stopper. He was inspired by the soul revues of the '60s where the artists would pour all their energy into their final song, and just when it seemed to be over, keep playing. He knew his audience would remember the song when he played it.
This is one of the songs that got the attention of Jon Landau, became Springsteen's manager. Landau, covering the show for the Boston publication Real Paper, saw Bruce perform it on May 9, 1974 and wrote in his review, "I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen."
After appearing on the covers of Time and Newsweek in October 1975, Springsteen sometimes changed the words to "Tell your papa I ain't no freak, 'cause I got my picture on the cover of Time and Newsweek" when he performed it live.
In 1979, "Rosalita" was issued as a single in the UK after British TV shows started airing the clip of Springsteen performing it at the concert in Phoenix in 1978.
The audience always goes crazy when Springsteen sings the line: "The record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance." He got a $25,000 advance from Columbia Records when he signed his first record deal, proving to his father and others who doubted him that he did have a real job.
Springsteen never liked his nickname "The Boss," and sometimes sang: "You can call me Lieutenant, Rosie, but don't ever call me Boss."
In a
Songfacts interview with David Sancious, who played piano on the track, he talked about what drives this song. "That is the energy of six young guys very enthusiastic about playing music - that's what comes across on the record," he said. "The song itself is a very spirited, positive song, an old-fashioned kind of '60s, R&B-ish, fun song. It's a great, fun song to play."
In 2013, this was used on the final episode of The Office. It plays while Michael and Dwight are dancing at Dwight and Angela's wedding reception.