Toto - Rosanna

Toto in London, October 1982

I've always loved this song for the sheer musicality of it. Toto IV was released in 1982, incidentally also the year I entered high school. So the nostalgia is pretty significant for me as well, though I think I appreciate the song more as the years and decades roll by.

If you want to listen and read, right click on the title below and click "Open link in new tab/window". 

Rosanna

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 didnt know you were looking for more than I could ever be

So I love the passion, I'm not as crazy about the drama. Dude is obviously head over heels over this Rosanna chick. Awesome. But it also seems true that he feels she's out of his league. Not a lot of details, but he's convinced she needs someone better. That's a bad feeling. 

So is she really that special, this Rosanna? I'm going to take a wild guess that she's a hottie and dude is a flame-broiled-Whopper-lovin' musician. If that's true, then maybe he can turn her feelings, a la the King of Queens, a la Paul Blart. Hello?!

Or maybe she wants to build a home and a family together and that's more than a road-bound musician could ever (or would ever) commit too. And maybe that's true. I mean, the song rocks, so maybe he feels a sense of destiny in this and can't get tied down. Better to know up front, right? Yeah, I think so.

Chorus:

Not quite a year since she went away, Rosanna yeah

Now shes gone and I have to say

Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, Rosanna yeah

Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, Rosanna yeah

"Meet you all the way." To my shame, I've never thought through those words before tonight, but I love where he's going. Usually you meet halfway, right? Compromise. Meet in the middle 'neath that ol' Georgia pine. That's good.

But dude is just flat out giving marriage advice here: there is no half way. At least in one sense that's true. I believe in compromise and negotiating and fairness, but when push comes to shove (oh my! does push come to shove, eh?!), are you willing to "meet you all the way"? When the relationship seems one-sided, or at least tilted, is that a ticket to leave? Our guy's melodic declaration is that he'll make up the distance all on his own.

I can see your face still shining through the window on the other side

Rosanna, Rosanna

I didnt 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

OK, so we're kinda back to the drama here. He's more or less saying "I hurt so bad without you that I'll actually do anything to be everything you need." Really, it's complete desperation poured out in an amazing song to win back her heart.

Chorus

(super sweet instrumental break)

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

So the whole song really comes down to "meet you all the way" and it raises two questions for me:

1. Who is better than whom?

2. Who is doing the meeting?

Here's what I mean. The whole idea that someone is completely out of someone's league and someone is willing to "meet you all the way" is a perfect picture of the gospel, like, the Jesus gospel.

In Jesus' story, though, the better one was also the one to meet us all the way. Paul, in his letter to the Philippian church in the Bible, says in chapter 2 that Jesus left the glory of heaven and equality with Father God to come all the way and meet us in our confusion and mess. In our drama and desperation.

His "all the way" was pretty far too. From heaven, he took a left at Bethlehem, picked up a cross to be killed on at Jerusalem, proceeded beyond the grave and back, and paid the price along the way for our junk. Now we never, ever have to compromise or hurt so bad. You might say that his face is still shinin' through the window on the other side.

"Religion" says that we have to "meet him all the way," jumping through a million hoops to be good enough. Following Jesus is a lot different than that. It isn't easy, but it's all about him meeting us all the way and learning to get comfortable in that.

I know a lot of people who seem to have the idea that they're not good enough for God or church, plus those church people are all hypocrites anyway. On the religion front, that's probably fairly accurate. None of us are "good enough" and fancy, well-dressed people whose (*#&^# doesn't stink are actually just full of (*#&^# themselves!

On the other hand, humble Jesus-followers whose hearts are broken by the pain and loneliness of the human condition, those are the ones who've been met all the way. Don't give up until you find some folks like that. They've got something worth seeking out.