Live 03 Sep 2001 version
[Spoken intro (Brian Kirk):] I don't need to tell you, I don't need to tell you, I don't need to tell you how honored I am that this is about to happen. 'Cause I think you know that I know about every one of this gentleman's songs, I play them all a ton — of course, rather in a mediocre fashion. (Springsteen takes Kirk's guitar). He's gonna play my guitar! See what kind of show it is! All right, I'll surprise you with what we're about to do, but I need the horn section. Guys, I need you, I need you. Guitar. Jimmy, come on up here.
[Spoken (someone offstage):] Check, one, two.
[Spoken (Bruce Springsteen):] Oh, thank you! Oh, yeah!
| Bruce Springsteen: | Spread out now, Rosie, doctor come cut loose mama's reins |
| You know playing blind man's bluff is a little baby's game | |
| You pick up Little Dynamite, I'm gonna pick up Little Gun | |
| Together we're gonna go out tonight and make that highway run | |
| Nick DiAco: | You don't have to call me lieutenant, Rosie, and I don't want to be your son |
| The only lover I'm ever gonna need's your soft sweet little girl's tongue | |
| Rosie, you're the one! | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Dynamite's in the belfry, baby, playin' with the bats |
| Little Gun's downtown in front of Woolworth's, checkin' out his attitude on all the cats | |
| Papa's on the corner, waiting for the bus | |
| Mama's home in the window, sittin' up there for us | |
| Nick DiAco: | She'll be there in that armchair, wrestling upstairs, 'cause she knows we ain't gonna come |
| And I ain't here on business, baby, I'm only here for fun | |
| Come in, Rosie, you're the one! | |
| Springsteen, DiAco, and background vocalists: | 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 | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Jack the Rabbit and Weak Knees Willie |
| Crowd: | Don't you know they're gonna be there |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Sloppy Sue, Big Bones Billy |
| Crowd: | They'll be comin' up for air |
| Bruce Springsteen: | We're gonna play some pool, act real cool |
| Stay out all night, it's gonna feel all right | |
| Rosie, come out tonight, come out tonight | |
| Nick DiAco: | Windows are for cheaters, chimneys for the poor |
| Closets are for hangers, winners use the door | |
| So use it, Rosie! | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | That's what it's there for! |
| Springsteen, DiAco, and background vocalists: | 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 | |
| Patti Scialfa: | Oh, say yeah! |
| Brian Kirk: | I know your mama, she don't like me 'cause I play with Bruce Springsteen |
| I know your daddy, he don't dig me, but he never did understand | |
| Papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room | |
| I'm coming to lend a hand | |
| I'm coming to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man | |
| Some day we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | But now you're sad |
| Brian Kirk: | Your mama's mad |
| Springsteen and Kirk: | And your papa says he knows that I don't have any money |
| Papa says he knows that I don't have any money | |
| Papa says he knows that I don't have any money | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | This is his last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance |
| The record company, Rosie, gave me a big advance | |
| My tires were slashed and I almost crashed, the Lord had mercy | |
| My machine, she's a dud, oh, sittin' 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 little café in Southern California down San Diego way | |
| Oh, yeah | |
| You can hear 'em in the back room strummin' | |
| Hold tight, baby, don't you know I'm coming | |
| Everybody say! | |
| All: | Ohhh! |
| All: | Rosalita, jump a little lighter |
| Senorita, come sit by my fire | |
| I just want to be your lover, ain't no liar | |
| Rosalita, you're my stone desire | |
| All, plus crowd: | Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! |
[Spoken outro (Bruce Springsteen):] Brian Kirk! Nobody knows the words to that!
The above lyrics are for the live 03 Sep 2001 performance of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) at Donovan's Reef in Sea Bright, NJ, with Brian Kirk & The Jirks, which included a three-piece horn section, plus Nick DiAco. The song was played in a full-band arrangement. Bruce Springsteen played Brian Kirk's acoustic guitar and Patti Scialfa played tambourine and provided background vocals.
Brian Kirk & The Jirks are a local Jersey Shore cover band who were the house band at Donovan's Reef at the time. Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, and family friend Anthony DiAco came to the bar in a golf cart along the beach at 6 p.m. to see Anthony DiAco's son, Nick DiAco, who frequently played with Brian Kirk & The Jirks. At the request of Brian Kirk, Springsteen and Patti Scialfa joined the band onstage for a four-song set following Nick's guest appearance. Kirk, a lifelong Springsteen fan, told Backstreets magazine: "Easily the most exciting, intense, fantabulous moment I have ever felt while being on stage in my lifetime... I'm going to find myself a new dream. [Bruce] makes me proud that I, too, come from the Jersey Shore. I can't express what a feeling it was to stand a foot-and-a-half from him as he played my guitar and sang ['Rosalita'] into my mic, one of the greatest songs ever written."
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake). Much of the above info is taken from the Fall 2001 issue (#72) of Backstreets magazine.
List of available versions of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) on this website:
ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) [Album version]