Rosanna (song)
| "Rosanna" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Toto - Rosanna.jpg | ||||
| Single by Toto | ||||
| from the album Toto IV | ||||
| B-side | "It's a Feeling" | |||
| Released | April 1, 1982 | |||
| Format | 7", CD single | |||
| Recorded | 1982 | |||
| Genre | Rock, Soft rock | |||
| Length | 5:31 4:02 (7" version) |
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| Label | Columbia | |||
| Writer(s) | David Paich | |||
| Producer(s) | Toto | |||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA, Canada) | |||
| Toto singles chronology | ||||
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"Rosanna" is a million-selling Gold-certified hit single, written by David Paich and performed by the American rock band Toto, the opening track and the first single from their 1982 album Toto IV. This song won the Record of the Year Grammy Award in the 1983 presentations. Rosanna was also nominated for the Song of the Year award. In musician circles, the song is known for its highly influential namesake half-time shuffle, as well as the ending guitar solo played by guitarist Steve Lukather.
The song Rosanna peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, behind two songs, "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League and "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor.[1] It was also one of the band's most successful singles in the UK, peaking at No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart and remaining on the chart for eight weeks.[2]
The B-side of the vinyl single was the song "It's a Feeling", which is also on the album Toto IV.
Contents
Composition and lyrics
The song was written by David Paich, who has said that the song is based on numerous girls he had known. As a joke, 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 and coincidentally had the same name.[3]
The drum pattern is known as a "half-time shuffle", and shows "definite jazz influence".[4] Featuring ghost notes and derived from the combination of what Jeff Porcaro called the "Bernard Purdie half-time shuffle" (Purdie shuffle) as well as the variation thereof John Bonham played on "Fool in the Rain" with the well-known Bo Diddley beat.[5]
Music video
The video (directed by Steve Barron) is set in a stylized urban streetscape, with Rosanna shown as a dancer whose bright red dress contrasts with her grey surroundings. The band plays within a chain-link fence enclosure. Cynthia Rhodes is featured as the lead dancer, which led to her being cast in Staying Alive the following year.[6] It also featured Thomas Guzman-Sanchez of the dance group Chain Reaction as one of the male dancers. He did the Boogaloo/Popping body wave leaping over another dancer.[citation needed] Despite not playing on the actual recording, new bassist Mike Porcaro (brother of Jeff and Steve) appears in this video, as original Toto bass player David Hungate left before the video was made. A young Patrick Swayze can be seen as one of the dancers.
Personnel
- Toto
- David Paich – synthesizer, piano, Hammond organ, backing vocal, horn arrangements
- Steve Lukather – lead and backing vocals, guitar
- Bobby Kimball – lead and backing vocals
- Jeff Porcaro – drums
- Steve Porcaro – synthesizer
- David Hungate – bass
- Guest musicians
- Lenny Castro – percussion, conga
- Tom Scott – saxophone
- Jim Horn – saxophone
- Gary Grant – trumpet
- Jerry Hey – trumpet and horn arrangements
- James Pankow – trombone
- Tom Kelly – backing vocal
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
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Year-end chart
Sales and certifications
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Sample usage
Art of Noise used a one-second sample of "Rosanna" on their 1984 track "Beat Box (Diversion One)," featured on both Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? and Daft. American Horror Story: Coven Evan Peters character Kyle Spencer is seen singing and dancing to Rosanna in a flashback.
Covers and parodies
- Christian parody band ApologetiX parodied the song as "Hosanna" on their album Wise Up and Rock.
- The Slovenian a cappella group and jazz choir Perpetuum Jazzile performed an a cappella version of the song at their Vokal Xtravaganzza concert in Ljubljana, Slovenia on November 9, 2010, a video of which was uploaded to YouTube on December 30, 2010.[12]
References
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications)
- ↑ David Roberts British Hit Singles & Albums, Guinness World Records Limited
- ↑ Tegnér, Anders. Toto Interview 1988 on YouTube. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
- ↑ Strong, Jeff (2006). Drums for Dummies, p.183. ISBN 0-471-79411-2.
- ↑ "Jeff Porcaro: The Rosanna Shuffle", DrummerWorld.com.
- ↑ "Cynthia Rhodes: Actress, Dancer, & Singer", nctc.net.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 "Rosanna" chart history, Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ↑ http://www.everyhit.co.uk
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
- ↑ Perpetuum Jazzile: Rosanna. YouTube. Accessed on September 15, 2012.
External links
- Lyrics on official Toto website
- MusicStack information
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with unsourced statements from June 2012
- Certification Table Entry usages for Canada
- Certification Table Entry usages for United States
- 1982 singles
- Grammy Award for Record of the Year
- Music videos directed by Steve Barron
- Songs written by David Paich
- Toto (band) songs
- 1982 songs
- Columbia Records singles
- Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)
- Grammy Award for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices
