"Whole Lotta Rosie" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the eighth and final track on the band's fourth Australian album, Let There Be Rock, released in Australia in March 1977, and was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott. It is also the eighth and final track on the international version of the album, released in June the same year. It was also released as a single in 1978, with a live version of the Let There Be Rockalbum track "Dog Eat Dog" as the B-side, which had been recorded in concert in Glasgow on 30 April 1978.
Composition
The song is about an obese Tasmanian woman, Rosie, with whom the singer had a one-night stand at the Freeway Gardens Motel in North Melbourne. In addition to pointing out the woman's size, the singer finds her to be one of the most talented lovers he's ever experienced. The song's first verse reveals Rosie's substantial physical measurements, and that she weighs nineteen stone. On the Live from the Atlantic Studios disc, however, Scott describes the titular woman as "... a Tasmanian devil ... weighs 305 pounds ...," a measurement that differs from the "19 stone" lyric. In 1998, speaking to Vox magazine, Angus Young remembered:
We'd been in Tasmania and after the show said he was going to check out a few clubs. He said he'd got about 100 yards down the street when he heard this yell: 'Hey! Bon!' He looked around and saw this leg and thought: 'Oh well!' From what he said, there was this Rosie woman and a friend of hers. They were plying him with drinks and Rosie said to him: 'This month I've slept with 28 famous people,' and Bon went: 'Oh yeah?!' Anyway, in the morning he said he woke up pinned against the wall, he said he opened one eye and saw her lean over to her friend and whisper: '29!' There's very few people who'll go out and write a song about a big fat lady, but Bon said it was worthy.
Early version
The song's main riff was also featured on an earlier recording with different lyrics, titled "Dirty Eyes", which saw official release on Volts, part of the Bonfirebox set. "Dirty Eyes" features a different chord progression in the chorus, as well as a slower tempo than "Rosie". In late summer of 1976, "Dirty Eyes" was first recorded by AC/DC, along with "Carry Me Home" and "Love at First Feel" for a possible EP. This recording is possibly the version that was later issued on the Bonfire boxed set. The EP was scrapped, leaving "Love at First Feel" as a fill-in for the upcoming International Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap album and "Carry Me Home" as a b-side. In the following months, "Dirty Eyes" was recrafted into "Whole Lotta Rosie," and recorded during the Let There Be Rock sessions of January–February 1977. When the song was released as a single in 1978 it was heavily edited, making the song considerably shorter. A big part of the guitar solo was left out as well as the characteristic guitar-band duel.
Live recordings and performances
One of AC/DC's most popular songs, "Whole Lotta Rosie" has been included on each of the band's official live albums: three with Scott If You Want BloodYou've Got It, Live from the Atlantic Studios, , the latter two released in 1997 as part of the Bonfire box set, and also four with Brian Johnson. The only other song that appears on all these releases is "The Jack". A live video of "Whole Lotta Rosie" is also featured on the DVD Family Jewels, from a 1978 performance on the BBC's TV concert series Rock Goes to College, on which Scott refers to Rosie as the "biggest, fattest woman who ever fornicated." When the song is performed live, the crowd will usually shout 'Angus!' in between each of the opening riffs. This has its origins in the version heard on If You Want Blood You've Got It, but a careful listen reveals that this was a regular chant patched into the song's intro Current live performances of "Whole Lotta Rosie" are accompanied by a giant, inflatable "Rosie" as seen on the Live at Donington video. In March 2005, Q magazine placed the live version from If You Want Blood ... at number 16 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Rosie was seen during the cartoon intro video that was played on the Black Ice World Tour. The song was also used in Brian Johnson's audition as Scott's successor.
Covers
"Whole Lotta Rosie" was covered by Guns N' Roses, it was on the 1987 UK vinyl singles of "Welcome to the Jungle" and the 1988 Live from the Jungle album. It has also been played as part of Guns N' Roses' concerts. Australian psychedelic band Electric Hippies recorded a cover in 1995 for the Fuse Box alternative tribute album. It was also covered by W.A.S.P. on the American version of the 1996 Still Not Black Enough album. The Japanese power metal band Galneryus released a cover of it, on their 2007 Voices from the Past EP, which is an EP of 5 cover songs. Another cover version, by Steel Panther, was released in 2010 on The Metal Forge Volume Two by Metal Hammer. Bullet for My Valentine also released a cover of the song as a bonus track on their 2013 album Temper Temper.
