Rosanna (song)

"Rosanna"
Single by Toto
from the album Toto IV
B-side	"It's a Feeling"
Released	March 31, 1982 (US)[1]
Recorded	1982
Genre	Soft rock[2]
Length	5:31 (album/video version) 3:59 (single version)
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	David Paich
Producer(s)	Toto
Toto singles chronology
"Live for Today" (1981) "Rosanna" (1982) "Make Believe" (1982)
Music video
"Rosanna" on YouTube

"Rosanna" is a song 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 Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 1983 ceremony. "Rosanna" was also nominated for the Song of the Year award. It is regarded for drummer Jeff Porcaro's half-time shuffle, commonly known as the "Rosanna shuffle".

The song reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, behind "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League and "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor.^[3] 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.^[4]

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. 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."^[5] In the verses, the key is changed from G major to F major, accompanied on the original recording by the lead vocalist changing from Steve Lukather to Bobby Kimball.^[6]

The drum pattern is known as a "half-time shuffle", and shows "definite jazz influence",^[7] featuring ghost notes and derived from the combination of the Purdie shuffle, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's shuffle on "Fool in the Rain", and the Bo Diddley beat. The Purdie shuffle can be prominently heard on Steely Dan's track "Home at Last" from Aja, which Jeff Porcaro cited as an influence.^[8][9]

The overlapping keyboard solos in the middle were created by David Paich and Steve Porcaro recording a multitude of keyboard lines (some of which were cut from the final recording) using a Micro-Composer, a Minimoog, Yamaha CS-80s, Prophets, a Hammond organ, and a GS1, among other instruments.^[6] Paich credits Porcaro with both coming up with the concept for the segment and playing a majority of the parts.^[6] The album version starts with the drum beat only then kicks into the rest of the melody, then ends with two renditions of the song's chorus and goes into a musical interlude and fades out from there. According to Lukather, this final instrumental section was a spontaneous jam during the recording session: "... the song was supposed to end but Jeff carried on and Dave started playing the honky-tonk piano and we all just followed on."^[6] The single edit goes right into the melody at the beginning, then the song fades out during the first singing of the chorus at the end.

Steve Porcaro and Lukather describe it as "the ultimate Toto track".^[10]

Music video[]

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.^[11]

Despite not playing on the actual recording, new bassist Mike Porcaro (brother of Jeff and Steve) appears in the video, as original Toto bass player David Hungate left before the video was made. Lenny Castro is also featured with the band as a percussionist.^{[citation needed]}

Personnel[]

Toto

• David Paich – synthesizers, piano, Hammond organ, backing vocals, horn arrangements
• Steve Lukather – lead and backing vocals, guitar
• Bobby Kimball – lead and backing vocals
• Jeff Porcaro – drums
• Steve Porcaro – synthesizers, Hammond organ
• 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[] Chart (1982/1983) Peak position Australian Kent Music Report[12] 16 Austrian Top 40[13] 11 Belgian Singles Chart 22 Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks 7 Canadian RPM Top Singles 4 Dutch Singles Chart 3 Europarade 20 French Singles Chart 46 German Singles Chart[13] 24 Irish Singles Chart 11 Italian Singles Chart 13 New Zealand Singles Chart[13] 22 Norwegian Singles Chart[13] 2 South African Singles Chart 3 Spanish Radio Chart 31 Swiss Singles Chart[13] 3 U.K. Singles Chart[14] 12 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 2 U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 17 U.S. Billboard Top Rock Tracks 8

Year-end charts[] Chart (1982) Rank US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[15] 14 South African Singles Chart 15 Canadian RPM Top Singles 27 Italian Singles Chart 30 Dutch Top 40 31 Australian Kent Music Report 74 All-time charts[] Chart (1958-2018) Position US Billboard Hot 100[16] 480 Sales and certifications[] Region Certification Certified units/sales Australia (ARIA)[17] Gold 35,000 Canada (Music Canada)[18] Gold 50,000^ United Kingdom (BPI)[19] Silver 200,000 United States (RIAA)[20] Platinum 1,000,000 ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Weezer cover[]

In 2018, American rock band Weezer released a cover of the track to poke fun at an attempt by fans to get them to cover "Africa", another song by Toto.^[21] Weezer went on to release a cover of "Africa" five days later.

References[]

External links[]

• Lyrics on official Toto website
• MusicStack information