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Rating: Upon the release of Toto IV in the spring of 1982, Lukather, Paich, and the Porcaro brothers were busy with a singer who was relatively well-known at the time, recording a rather insignificant album of his, destined for quick oblivion. Meanwhile, I was busy stabbing myself to death in my room over the thought of any blonde bombshell. Understand, I was sixteen, and there was a monster in my pants.
Like when I clung to a honey hair at the Saturday night parties, dancing (so to speak) to the slow beat of Toto's I won’t hold you back, mumbling some nonsense in her ear, while the floor reeked of vomited Ballantine, and Steve Lukather spread treacle with the worthy accompaniment of keyboards, guitars, strings, trumpets, and trombones from his mates.
The fact is I didn't buy Toto IV for I won’t hold you back, even though I was deeply pondering in my room whether this song was more suitable for the purpose of panty-dropping compared to the other slow jam Hard to say I’m sorry by Chicago, which came out around the same time, vying for the title of planetary tile song.
Moreover, I didn't buy Toto IV even for Africa, despite appreciating its perfect rhythm and the song's momentum, lively but not too much, which classified it in the well-known category of "slow figurate."
[for the few unaware of this fundamental dance, the category of slow figurate included certain pop ballads from the early eighties (Time after time by Cyndi Lauper, for example), particularly feared by teenage boys attending Sunday afternoon dancing, like myself, as they prevented a firm and close grip on the chick typically enveloped in 69ers shoulder pads but forced one to sway like fools, and not infrequently, it was necessary to split up pairs of girls who, riding the wave of a slow figurate, sailed along the dance floor, swaying their hips while glancing around to intercept the arrival of predators, sporting smiles of false innocence to counteract our predatory approaches, and I draw a pitying veil over the arguments used to separate the unfortunate girls, I only remember that a friend of mine always carried around a bumper car token, and that says it all].
The fact is I didn’t buy TOTO IV even for all the other superhits it contained, starting with Rosanna, Grammy and not Grammy, and records of any kind. Or rather, yes, in the end, it was only the fault/merit of Rosanna. not for the song itself but more simply for the name: Rosanna!
Yes, indeed, I was struck simply by the name Rosanna because Lukather, repeating it ad nauseam in the chorus, extracted from my rotten sixteen-year-old brain the memory of her who had initiated me six years earlier to the innocent pleasures of a hard lemon. Rosanna! How could I have forgotten her after just six years? Rosanna! The evocative power of Lukather and company! Thanks to TOTO IV, I returned to the memory of that little girl with Battisti-like blonde braids, whom I dated when I was ten, in my pilgrimages among the courtyards and buildings of my neighborhood.
I lived in a condo opposite to her building. Hers in a literal sense, in that the building was owned by Rosanna's father, along with the adjoining small factory and warehouses of the products marketed by Rosanna's family. We often gathered in the lobby, with Rosanna's little friends, where the blonde braids insisted on playing Dame and Knight, an infantile version of the Noble Bottle Game.
The modes of the Game Dame and Knight are forgettable; I only remember bowing several times before the chosen female, who could respond with a positive reverence or with a dismissive gesture. A genius game, I admit, but I justify it with the crush I had on Rosanna, incredibly reciprocated. The fact is that after a certain number of returned bows, the lemon bonus would activate, and with Rosanna, I would retreat to the basement stairs to indulge in a wholesome making out.
So, six years later, I listened enraptured to the song Rosanna, grateful to Toto for having resurrected the eponymous significance of she who opened her soft little mouth, before the tongue became a spinning lathe.
What a nostalgia for the time of pure but hard lemon, of that chaste pleasure, with no monsters in the pants, no groping, no urgencies to progress to the next stages.
[I would close it here, but no, because a final digression is a must on the social distribution of housing in Rosanna's Family building, in a strict ascending order depending on the rank of the tenant. That is, aside from the lemon basements and the lobby of Dame and Knight:
- GROUND FLOOR: administrative offices of Rosanna's Family business
- FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD FLOORS: housing occupied by the warehouse workers and employees of the company
- FOURTH AND FIFTH FLOORS: housing occupied by the office staff of the company
- SIXTH FLOOR: master penthouse of Rosanna’s Family
Stuff to make Perec turn pale.]
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Rosanna (05:33)
All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is see your eyes
Rosanna, Rosanna
I never thought that a girl like you could ever care for me, Rosanna
All I wanna do in the middle of the evening is hold you tight
Rosanna, Rosanna
I didn't know you were looking for more than I could ever be
Not quite a year since you went away, Rosanna
Now she's gone and I have to say
[Chorus:]
Meet you all the way
Meet you all the way, Rosanna yeah
Meet you all the way
Meet you all the way, Rosanna yeah
I can see your face still shining through the window on the other side
Rosanna, Rosanna
I didn't know that a girl like you could make me feel so sad, Rosanna
All I wanna tell you is now you'll never ever have to compromise
Rosanna, Rosanna
I never thought that losing you could ever hurt so bad
Not quite a year since she went away, Rosanna, yeah
Now she's gone and I have to say
[Repeat chorus]
[Instrumental break]
Not quite a year since she went away,
Who is it? Rosanna
Now she's gone and I have to say
[Repeat chorus]
Meet you all the way, Rosanna
Meet you all the way, Rosanna
02 Make Believe (03:47)
Why don't we make believe we're in love again
Who said the crimson moon doesn't shine
Where do people go when they're lookin' for that one of a kind
Why don't we make believe that we're sorry
Why must we hold it all inside
Where do lovers go when they're runnin' and there's no place to hide
Always remember - the day we met in the pouring rain
No more pretendin' - we went our separate ways
No matter which way the wind blows now, hang on to it anyhow
Don't ever say it could never be the same
Chorus
Always remember - holding hands on a summer day
You were content ob das stimmt?? and - you took it all away
I didn't come here to change your mind, lead you on and waste your time
All alone in the evening, gettin' blue
Why don't we make believe
(Instrumental break)
Chorus
Why don't we make believe, why don't we make believe
04 Good for You (03:18)
If you're dreamin', son don't you rise, I never get lost, so deep into us
I won't give up until you give in, but I know you must realize
Chorus:
I could be good for you, you could be good for me too, yeah
I could be good for you, you could be good for me too
Everyone knows, but they don't know why, how much will a smile, you satisfy
Stars gonna shine, the way that you feel, so there is no reason, I wonder why
Chorus
(Instrumental break)
Chorus repeats 2x
05 It's a Feeling (03:10)
It's a feeling, I don't belong here
But man's on the outside looking in, wonderin' losin' his old margin
It's a feeling, you never belonged to me
First you're on the up 'n up, only to down in sea
Only to down in sea
You're fighting me, you knew me, all desires
No lock or key can hide the truth you're keeping from me
(repeats 2x)
It's a feeling
07 Lovers in the Night (04:26)
It's just the soul that matters, and I don't know why
You know she's gonna make you cry, you know she's gonna make you cry
She'll have you walk beneath the ladder you were meant to climb
You know she's gonna make you try, you know she's gonna make you try
Chorus:
Ooh, you know we're lovers in the night
Ooh, you know we're lovers in the night
It's just the soul that matters, and keeps her satisfied
You know she's gonna make you cry, you know she's gonna make you cry
She'll have you wishin' that you had her come your way to shine
You know she's gonna make you try, ooh, you know she's gonna make you high
Chorus
(Instrumental break)
It's just the soul that matters, and keeps her satisfied
You know she's gonna make you cry, you know she's gonna make you cry
She'll have you wishin' that you had her come your way to shine
You know she's
(Instrumental break)
Chorus repeats 2x
Ooh, you know we're lovers in the night
08 We Made It (03:58)
Bad timing for love - you caught me on your birthday
I could feel your heart break into a hundred pieces
We were too torn apart, now it seems so senseless
And if we're clever, we'll put it together, it may be forever
Chorus:
We made it, made it, made it before, I know that we can make it again
We made it, made it, made it before, I know that we can make it again
Down on my luck, you arrived just in time, my angel
Thought you'd given me up, like a rhyme that needs no reason
I want you enough to keep my life untangled
If we're clever, we'll put it together, 'cos it may be forever
Chorus
(Instrumental break)
I want you enough to keep my life untangled
If we're clever, we'll put it together, 'cos it may be forever
Chorus repeats 2x
If ever we'll make it, we're gonna make it girl
And I know we can take it, we got to take it, girl
If ever we can make it, we gotta make it
And I know we can take it...
10 Africa (05:01)
I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in, 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say
Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had, ooh
The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside
Frightened of this thing that I've become
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had, ooh
Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had, ooh
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Other reviews
By Torre Ste
The album immediately kicks off with great hits like 'Rosanna' and 'Make Believe', catchy melodies that showcase Bobby Kimball’s exceptional vocal ability.
'Africa'... a melody where keyboards and drums accompany David Paich’s deep voice, with great choruses by Kimball, Lukather, and Paich in the refrains.
