“Rosanna” (Toto)

Continuing our week with songs that feature a lady’s name in the title, what better classic song of the day than Toto’s “Rosanna?” Released in late March of 1982, this was one of the group’s most successful singles, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and winning the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

“Rosanna” was written by Toto’s lead singer and keyboardist David Paich. The song was long understood to be about actress Rosanna Arquette, who was dating fellow keyboardist Steve Porcaro at the time. Some sources say that the Rosanna Arquette connection was actually a bit of a joke, that the song was really written about several girls that Mr. Paich knew. Other sources, including a book written by group guitarist Steve Lukather, say that the song was most definitely written about Ms. Arquette. You pick the story you like best.

In any instance, it’s a hell of a song, notable for its distinctive half-time shuffle by drummer Jeff Porcaro. It’s not a straight half-time shuffle, however; it’s based on Bernard Purdie’s famous Purdie Shuffle, which fits in snare drum ghost notes between the swung hi hat notes. Porcaro said he was also influenced by John Bonham’s equally famous half-time shuffle on Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain,” and you can hear that. Porcaro also threw in a little Bo Diddley beat on the bass drum for good measure. Put it all together and you a beat that cooks but is also extremely difficult to duplicate.

Want to learn how to play it? Watch Jeff himself demonstrate the beat in the following video:

And here’s what it looks like written out. It’s those ghost notes that are killer.

Jeff Porcaro, like the other members of Toto, was a successful studio player before joining the group. You may have heard his drumming on songs by Seals & Crofts (“Diamond Girl”), Andrew Gold (“Thank You for Being a Friend”), Boz Skaggs (“Lowdown“), Carly Simon (“Nobody Does It Better”), Jackson Browne (“The Pretender”), Warren Zevon (“Excitable Boy”), Steely Dan (the song “FM” and much of the Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied albums), and lots, lots more. He actually got his start, while still in high school, playing drums for Sonny and Cher. (I remember watching him in the background during the in-concert sequences on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and being quite impressed, even though I didn’t know who it was at the time.) Unfortunately, Jeff Porcaro passed away way too soon in 1992, just 38 years old.

Toto came to be when session musicians David Paich (keyboards, vocals), Steve Lukather (guitar, vocals), David Hungate (bass), Jeff Porcaro (drums), and Jeff’s brother Steve Porcaro (keyboards, vocals) decided to form their own band. (Hungate was later replaced on bass by another Porcaro brother, Mike.) The guys had known each other since high school and most had played with Boz Skaggs on the Silk Degrees album and on tour. They released their first album in 1977 and the hits started coming, including “Hold the Line” (#8 in 1978), “99” (#26, 1979), “Africa” (#1, 1982), “I Won’t Hold You Back” (#10, 1983), “I’ll Be Over You” (#11, 1986), and “Pamela” (#22, 1987). The band has gone through innumerable lineup changes through the years but continues to tour and record today, although Steve Lukather is the only original member involved.

And here’s your daily bonus of the day, Toto’s official MTV-era music video for “Rosanna.” The video, directed by Steve Barron, features dancer/actress Cynthia Rhodes, who later appeared in the movies Staying Alive and Dirty Dancing. (And here’s a bit of trivia: one of the background dancers in the video is Patrick Swayze, who starred alongside Ms. Rhodes in Dirty Dancing.)