1982 Toto – Rosanna (US: #2 UK: #12)

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. 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.

The B-side of the vinyl single was the song “It’s a Feeling”, which is also on the album Toto IV.

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.

The drum pattern is known as a “half-time shuffle”, and shows “definite jazz influence”. 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.