Spotlight on Patti Scialfa today:
Although Patti released “Rose” on her 2004 album 23rd Street Lullaby, well-connected Bruce fans were already familiar with the song from the legendary Asbury Park all-start holiday concerts that Bruce hosted in 2000. Patti performed the song with Bruce backing her at both holiday shows that year:
…but the song dates much farther back than that.
How far back, I don’t know. But we do know that Patti performed it more than 20 years prior to those holiday shows, at a Sounds of Asbury Park concert at the Paramount Theater on August 30, 1980–and amazingly, we have a wonderful video recording of that performance:
Patti has often said that she based this song on a real person, a woman she used to waitress with when she first moved to New York City. If Rose was pushing 50 in 1980, she’s pushing 90 today. Let’s hope she got to appreciate being immortalized in song.
Here’s the official studio track, with Bruce on guitar and keyboards:
Rose
First performed: December 17, 2000 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: December 18, 2000 (Asbury Park, NJ)
