Editing Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

{{Infobox song
| name       = Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
| cover      = Bruce Springsteen - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).jpg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Bruce Springsteen]]
| album      = [[The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle]]
| B-side     = [[Night (Bruce Springsteen song)|Night]]
| released   = December 1979 (Netherlands)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Bruce+Springsteen&titel=Rosalita+%28Come+Out+Tonight%29&cat=s|title=Springsteen singles}}</ref>
| format     =
| recorded   = 1973
| studio     = [[914 Sound Studios|914 Sound]], [[Blauvelt, New York]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Brucebase, On the Tracks: The Wild the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle|url=http://brucebase.wikispaces.com/The+Wild%2C+The+Innocent+%26+The+E+Street+Shuffle+-+Studio+Sessions|access-date=2007-07-27|archive-date=2012-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122165233/http://brucebase.wikispaces.com/The+Wild%2C+The+Innocent+%26+The+E+Street+Shuffle+-+Studio+Sessions|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| genre      = [[Rock and roll]]
| length     = 7:00
| label      = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]
| writer     = Bruce Springsteen
| producer   = 
*[[Mike Appel]] 
*Jim Cretecos
| prev_title = [[The Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen song)|The Promised Land]]
| prev_year  = 1978
| next_title = [[Hungry Heart]]
| next_year  = 1980
}}

"'''Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)'''" is a 1973 song by [[Bruce Springsteen]], from his ''[[The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle]]'' [[album]], and is especially famed as a concert number for Springsteen and [[The E Street Band]]. The song, which clocks in at just over seven minutes, is a story of forbidden love between the singer and the eponymous Rosalita, whose parents disapprove of his life in a rock and roll band. It is included on the [[compilation album]]s ''[[The Essential Bruce Springsteen]]'' and ''[[Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Greatest Hits]]''. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked it the 446th greatest song of all time on their updated [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|500 Greatest Songs of All Time]] list.

==Reception==
Never released as a single in U.S. and generally unknown upon its initial album release, "Rosalita" began to get [[FM broadcasting in the USA|FM radio]] airplay when an advance version of "[[Born to Run (song)|Born to Run]]" was distributed to rock radio stations. As Springsteen gained commercial success, "Rosalita" became one of his most popular airplay tracks, and is still heard on classic rock radio. The song, despite never receiving an official US single release, has been lauded hugely by music critics in the years since its release in 1973. On its release Ken Emerson of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' dubbed it "a raucous celebration of desire."<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.superseventies.com/spspringsteen1.html | last= Emerson | first= Ken | title= The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle | publisher= superseventies.com}}</ref> In ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Rock Albums of the Seventies]]'' (1981), [[Robert Christgau]] described it as "more lyrical and ironic than you could have dreamed".<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=199&name=Bruce+Springsteen | last= Christgau | first= Robert | title= The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle | publisher= robertchristgau.com}}</ref> George P Pelecanos of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' magazine has called it "One of the great rock'n roll performances, and as close to a perfect song as anyone's ever recorded," while [[Chris T-T]] in the same publication declared "Never mind [[The Beatles]] or [[The Rolling Stones]], this is the best rock'n roll track of all time."<ref name= reason>{{cite web | url= http://www.reasontorock.com/tracks/rosalita.html | title= Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) | publisher= Reason to Rock}}</ref> The song is one of [[The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll]]. Its [[#Music video|music video]] occupies the number 71 spot on ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s 1993 list of the top 100 videos.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1993/rsvideo.htm | title= Rolling Stone: "The 100 Top Music Videos" | publisher= Rock on the Net}}</ref>

Though it was not released as a single in the US (or anywhere at the time of the album's release), "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" was released as a single in the Netherlands and some other European countries in 1979.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.discogs.com/Bruce-Springsteen-Rosalita/release/601849 | title= Bruce Springsteen - (Come Out Tonight) (Vinyl) at Discogs | year= 1979 | publisher= [[Discogs]] | access-date= 2012-02-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Bruce+Springsteen&titel=Rosalita+%28Come+Out+Tonight%29&cat=s | title= Bruce Springsteen - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) | publisher= dutchcharts.nl, Hung Medien | access-date= 2012-02-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.brucespringsteen.it/DB/detrec.aspx?code=CBS127753 | title= Bruce Springsteen Discography : ROSALITA / RACING IN THE STREET - NIGHT - CBS1277532 | publisher= brucespringsteen.it, Bruce Springsteen Database - Killing Floor | access-date= 2012-02-07}}</ref>

==Music video==
In 1984,{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} many years after the song's initial release, [[MTV]] began showing a music video for the song.  The video was a straight concert performance (from a [[Darkness Tour]] performance on July 8, 1978, at the [[Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum]] in [[Phoenix, Arizona]]) that included band introductions and female fans rushing the stage.

In 1979, a live concert performance was shown on the [[BBC2]] television show ''[[The Old Grey Whistle Test]]''. This performance was later released on a compilation DVD of performances from the show.<ref>{{cite AV media|title=The Old Grey Whistle Test|medium=DVD|publisher=Warner Home Video|year=2003}}</ref>

==Live performances==
For many years, dating back virtually to when the song was written, "Rosalita" always closed the regular set in Springsteen concerts, often elongated to incorporate extended band introductions. It was the one "sure thing" in a Springsteen set list and celebrated as such. [[Steven Van Zandt]] used this time to shine on backing vocals, as his voice changed on performances of the song from the [[Born to Run tours]] to [[The River Tour]] and during the River Tour on November 2, 1980, Springsteen changed the lyrics to "Rosie, relax and let's have a little fun cause Rosie, my record just went to number one" celebrating the fact that Springsteen just had his first ''Billboard'' number-one album.

On October 19, 1984, in the [[Tacoma Dome]] in [[Tacoma, Washington]], during the [[Born in the U.S.A. Tour]], "Rosalita" was dropped from the show, not to reappear. Springsteen biographer [[Dave Marsh]] said this was done to "disrupt the ritual expectations of the fanatic fans [...] establishing through a burst of creativity just who ''was'' boss [...] he'd liberated the show from an albatross, a song that was too long and had long since stopped breathing."<ref>{{cite book |last=Marsh |first=Dave |date=1987 |title=Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980's|publisher=Pantheon|page=275 |isbn=0394546687}}</ref>

[[File:RosieMeadowlands052109.jpg|thumb|right|234px|"Rosalita" in the swamps of Jersey: House lights up for the final song of the May 21, 2009 show at [[Izod Center]].]]
For many years, "Rosalita" made only rare or sporadic appearances, leading to fans campaigning for the song to be played by holding banners or placards saying "Let Rosie Come Out Tonight!" during shows. Springsteen occasionally granted the wish, though, such as during the last show of the above-mentioned tour in 1985 at the [[Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum]], or on most of the quick American leg of the 1988 [[Tunnel of Love Express]] (it was dropped before the end, and did not appear on the European leg), or on the last night of a 15-show stand at the [[Continental Airlines Arena]] in [[New Jersey]] on the [[Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour|Reunion Tour]] in 1999. Finally, during the U.S. outdoor stadium portion of [[The Rising Tour]] in Summer 2003, "Rosalita" was inserted into the encores and was played in all 33 of those shows.

During the 2007–2008 [[Magic Tour (Bruce Springsteen)|Magic Tour]], the song made sporadic appearances, sometimes in reaction to audience signs requesting it. On the July 4 show in [[Gothenburg]], Van Zandt brought back the famous "double-mike" ditty he and Springsteen used to do in the 1970s with the song's chorus. "Rosalita" continued to make sporadic appearances as the final encore during the 2009 [[Working on a Dream Tour]]. Beginning with the Wrecking Ball tour, the song became a regular part of encores.

==Certifications==
{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications and sales for "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Bruce Springsteen|title=Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)|award=Gold|relyear=1973|certyear=2022|access-date=May 26, 2022}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://brucespringsteen.net/albums/1973 Lyrics and audio clips from Brucespringsteen.net]

{{Bruce Springsteen songs}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1979 singles]]
[[Category:1973 songs]]
[[Category:Bruce Springsteen songs]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Mike Appel]]
[[Category:Songs about New Jersey]]
[[Category:Songs written by Bruce Springsteen]]