ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT)

Live 07 Jul 1978 version

[Spoken intro:] Wherever she is, on the strip, outside, inside, wherever you may be: Rosie, come out tonight!

Spread out now, Rosie, doctor come cut loose her mama's reins
You know playin' blind man's bluff is a little baby's game
You pick up Little Dynamite, and I'm gonna pick up Little Gun
Together we're gonna go out tonight, we'll make that highway run
You don't have to call me lieutenant, Rosie, I don't want to be your son
The only lover I'm ever gonna need's your soft sweet little girl's tongue
You're the one!

Dynamite's in the belfry, baby, playin' with the bats
Little Gun's downtown in front of Woolworth's, tryin' out his attitude on all the cats
Papa's on the corner, waitin' for the bus
Mama's home in the window, waitin' up there for us
She'll be there in that chair when they wrestle her upstairs, you know we ain't gonna come
I ain't here on business, only here for fun!
So what's the big deal then?

Rosalita, jump a little lighter
Senorita, come sit by my fire
I just want to be your lover, ain't no liar
Rosie, you're my stone desire

Jack the Rabbit, Weak Knees Willie, you know they're gonna be there
Gonna be Sloppy Sue and Big Bones Billy, they're comin' up for air
We're gonna (play some pool), skip some school, act real cool
Stay out all night, it's gonna feel all right
Well, Rosie, come out tonight, Rosie, come out tonight
Windows are for cheaters, chimneys for the poor
Closets are for hangers, winners use the door!

Rosalita, jump a little lighter
Senorita, come sit by my fire
I just want to be your lover, ain't no liar
Rosie, you're my stone desire
Yeah!
Whoa!

Aaah, huh!
[Spoken:] On the piano, Professor Roy Bittan!
On the guitar, Miami Steve Van Zandt!
On the bass guitar, Mr. Garry W. Tallent!
On the drums, The Mighty One, Mighty Max!
On the organ, now you see him, now you don't, Phantom Dan Federici!
And last but not least...
Do I have to say his name?
Do I have to speak his name?
Do I have to say his name?
In this corner, the King of the World, Master of the Universe, weighing in at 260 pounds, The Big
Man, Clarence Clemons!

Bring it up!

I know your mama, she don't like me 'cause I play in a rock and roll band
I know your papa don't dig me, he never did understand
Your papa lowered the boom, locked you in your room
Coming to lend a hand
Riding to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man
Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny
Now you're sad, mama's mad
(And your papa says he knows that I don't have any money)
Say it!
(Papa says he knows that I don't have any money)
(Papa says he knows that I don't have any money)

This is his last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance
The record company, Rosie, gave me the big bucks!
My tires were slashed, almost crashed, the Lord had mercy
My machine, she's a dud, stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Hold on tight, stay up all night, Rosie, I'm comin' on strong
By the time we meet the morning light, I will hold you in my arms
I know a pretty little place in Southern California down San Diego way
A little café, they play guitars all night and day
You can hear 'em in the back room strummin'
Hold tight, baby, don't you know I'm comin'
Everybody say
Let's hear it!
(Ohhhhh, whoa!)

Rosalita, jump a little lighter
Senorita, come sit by my fire
I just want to be your lover, ain't no liar
Rosie, you're my stone desire
C!

(Whoa!)

(Ow, ow, ow!)

(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!)

[Spoken outro:] Hello!

Info

The above lyrics are for the live 07 Jul 1978 performance of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA, during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour. The song was played in a full-band arrangement and featured band introductions in the midsection.

This live 07 Jul 1978 performance of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) was included on the Live/1975-85 box set in 1986.

The 07 Jul 1978 Show

On 07 Jul 1978, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed a special concert at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA. The full show was originally broadcast live on the now-defunct local radio station KMET-FM, and later became one of the main source concerts for the Live/1975-85 box set which includes eight recordings from this show. One more recording didn't make it onto the box set but was released as a b-side. Prior to its official release in 2018, this show circulated in its complete form on bootlegs (and unauthorized releases) sourced from tapes recorded off the airways.

Ticket stub for the 07 Jul 1978 show at The Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA
(Taken from Brucebase)

It was Jon Landau who suggested to Paul Rappaport, Columbia Records' west coast promotion manager at the time, the idea of a live broadcast on KMET-FM to widely promote Springsteen in Los Angeles. Rappaport had only a few days to organize a concert. The Roxy Theatre, which had a seating capacity of only 500, was selected and the band already booked to play the venue on that date has to be bought out. Ma Bell laid special high-fidelity phone lines at the venue to send audio to the radio station and a remote-recording truck was procured to handle the mix and record the concert on multi-track tapes for future use.

Reel-to-reel tape from which the official release was transferred

Rumors that a special show is happening on Friday 07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theatre started circulating just 48 hours prior to the show, and this was later confirmed in the 06 Jul 1978 issue of the Los Angeles Times. Tickets went on sale at noon on Thursday and the venue's limited capacity made getting tickets extremely difficult. With such short notice, tickets were simply stamped onto standard Roxy Theatre stubs (see above scan). It has been reported that the record company had bought half of the tickets, but Springsteen requested that they return half of them to various Los Angeles radio stations who would distribute them to fans.

In July 2018 the complete 07 Jul 1978 concert was officially released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net (see the "Official Live Downloads" section below for more details). It was recorded live with the Wally Heider Mobile truck by Jimmy Iovine and his crew consisting of Pete Carlson, Biff Dawes, Dennis Mays, Phil MacConnell, and Paul Sandweiss. The audio was freshly mixed by Jon Altschiller from 24-track 2-inch 15 IPS master tapes, assisted by Danielle Warman. It was mastered to DSD and PCM by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, ME.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Roxy July 7, 1978

The 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre was commercially released in Europe. Since 2005 some enterprising record labels in Europe (mostly in the UK) have been releasing Bruce Springsteen radio and TV broadcasts (and some soundboard recordings) from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Though these releases are not authorized by Bruce Springsteen or his record company, they are lawful due to a legal loophole in Europe.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Roxy Theater, West Hollywood July 7, 1978

3xCD - Rox Vox (RV3CD1001) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Roxy Theater, West Hollywood July 7, 1978

4xLP - Rox Vox (RV4LP1001) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Roxy Night 1978

3xCD - Leftfield Media (LFM3CD534) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen -- 1978 Roxy Night Volume 1

2xLP - Let Them Eat Vinyl (LETV386LP) - UK, 2015

This release contains part 1 of two of the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen -- 1978 Roxy Night Volume 2

2xLP - Let Them Eat Vinyl (LETV387LP) - UK, 2015

This release contains part 2 of two of the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Roxy 1978

Digital album - Lilith Records (no catalog number) - UK, 2016

This is a download-only digital album. It contains the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Complete 1978 Radio Broadcasts

15xCD - Sound Stage (SSCDBOX10) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 09 Aug 1978 broadcast from The Agora, the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre, the 19 Sep 1978 broadcast from Capitol Theatre, the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre, and the 15 Dec 1978 broadcast from Winterland Ballroom.

Official Live Downloads

Prior to the High Hopes Tour, Bruce Springsteen's management announced a new service allowing fans to download concert recordings approximately 48 hours after each show. The initial plan required fans to purchase a special USB wristband, which could then be used to download a single High Hopes Tour show of the purchaser's choice and also functions as a regular reusable USB flash drive. The wristband, which could be purchased online or at the concert venue, was priced at $40. Following some negative response from fans over the high cost for the wristband, Springsteen's management subsequently announced a separate cheaper option for purchasing shows directly, without the need for the wristband. The shows were available for purchase and download via Live Nation, Bruce Springsteen's concert promoter, priced at $9.99 for MP3 and $14.99 for FLAC. Audio recordings for 31 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, and 03 May 2014) were released as such and they were available until 30 Jun 2014.

On 17 Nov 2014, Live.BruceSpringsteen.net was launched. It's a new addition to the official website, serving as an online store offering high-quality live concert recordings as well as high-resolution digital releases of Springsteen's album catalog. The download store is powered by Nugs.net in cooperation with Columbia Records. Audio recordings for 30 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, 03 May 2014, and 18 May 2014) were re-released on the new download store in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Nugs.net adopted the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) format on 24 May 2017. From then on, all Bruce Springsteen live concert recordings, including the previously released ones, became also available in MQA.

Audio recordings for all 75 The River Tour 2016 dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Audio recordings for all 14 Summer '17 Tour dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Archival releases were periodically released on the same site, as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archive Series. These shows were also made available in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless FLAC or ALAC, 24-bit FLAC or ALAC or MQA, DSD, and audio CD-R. So far 90 shows (or sets of shows) were released from the ongoing series.

The Live/1975-85 Box Set

With the Born In The U.S.A. album and tour, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band reached the highest level of rock stardom. Columbia Records was expecting a follow up studio album and tour that would, like it's predecessor, achieve a huge commercial success. Instead, Springsteen released Live/1975-85, an over-three-hours-and-a-half-long live compilation album consisting of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Live/1975-85

The set was produced by Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, and Bruce Springsteen, and hit the stores on 10 Nov 1986. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs. Live/1975-85 is the first album to be credited to "Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band" instead of "Bruce Springsteen" only.

The highly-anticipated live album generated advance orders of more than 1.5 million copies, making it the largest dollar-volume pre-order in the history of the record business at the time. Record stores around the country found fans waiting in line on Monday morning before opening and one New York store reportedly sold the album right off the back of the delivery truck. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart and also became the first five-record set to reach the top 10 and the first to sell over a million copies. Live/1975-85 is the second-best-selling live album in U.S. history based on RIAA certification. It has been certified by the RIAA for 13 times platinum, trailing only Garth Brooks' Double Live.

Other Official Release

In 1987 the live 07 Jul 1978 version of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) was also included on Live Collection, a Japan-only EP released to promote the Live/1975-85 box set. The EP was released in both 12-inch vinyl and CD formats.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Live Collection

12" EP - CBS/SONY (20AP 3326) - Japan, 1987

This Japanese pressing did not come with an obi strip.

A1- FOR YOU [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
A2- ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
B1- FIRE [Live 16 Dec 1978 version]
B2- INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET [Live 29 Dec 1980 version]

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Live Collection

CD EP - CBS/SONY (28DP 777) - Japan, 1987

This is the first of three CD issues of this EP.

01- FOR YOU [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
02- ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
03- FIRE [Live 16 Dec 1978 version]
04- INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET [Live 29 Dec 1980 version]

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Live Collection

CD EP - CBS/SONY (23DP 5248) - Japan, 1988

This is the second of three CD issues of this EP.

01- FOR YOU [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
02- ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
03- FIRE [Live 16 Dec 1978 version]
04- INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET [Live 29 Dec 1980 version]

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Live Collection

CD EP - CBS/SONY (23DP 5248) - Japan, 1989

This is the third of three CD issues of this EP.

01- FOR YOU [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
02- ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
03- FIRE [Live 16 Dec 1978 version]
04- INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET [Live 29 Dec 1980 version]

The live 07 Jul 1978 version of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) can also be found on one Bruce Springsteen promo-only sampler.

Bruce Springsteen -- The Future Of Rock'n'Roll / 70's To 80's

2xCD - CBS/Sony (XADP 90009~10) - Japan, 1988

Japan-only promotional 2-CD set sampler compiling 28 tracks from Bruce Springsteen's first nine albums plus two 1988 live B-sides.

The Future Of Rock'n'Roll / 70's To 80's track list

Disc 1: (70's)
01- THUNDER ROAD [Live 18 Oct 1975 (early show) version]
02- BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
03- RACING IN THE STREET
04- KITTY'S BACK
05- BADLANDS
06- GROWIN' UP
07- PROVE IT ALL NIGHT
08- 4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY)
09- BACKSTREETS [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
10- FOR YOU
11- TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT
12- THE PROMISED LAND
13- ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) [Live 07 Jul 1978 version]
14- BORN TO RUN

Disc 2: (80's)
01- BORN IN THE U.S.A. [Live 30 Sep 1985 version]
02- BRILLIANT DISGUISE
03- DANCING IN THE DARK
04- CADILLAC RANCH [Live 06 Jul 1981 version]
05- WALK LIKE A MAN
06- WAR [Live 30 Sep 1985 version]
07- JOHNNY 99
08- HUNGRY HEART [Live 28 Dec 1980 version]
09- I WANNA MARRY YOU
10- MY HOMETOWN [Live 30 Sep 1985 version]
11- THE RIVER
12- GLORY DAYS
13- OUT IN THE STREET
14- TOUGHER THAN THE REST [Live 27 Apr 1988 version]
15- SPARE PARTS [Live 09 Jul 1988 version]
16- THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND [Live 29 Dec 1980 version]

Credits

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.

Available Versions

List of available versions of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) on this website:

Page last updated: 04 Apr 2012