B-side "Lordy" Format 7" 45 RPM Length 2:54 | Released August 1970 Genre Soft rock, pop Label Uni | |
"Cracklin' Rosie" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond in 1970, with instrumental backing by L.A. sessions musicians from the Wrecking Crew, from his album Tap Root Manuscript. In October 1970, the song became Diamond's first American #1 hit on The Billboard Hot 100, and his third to sell a million copies. It was his breakthrough single on the UK Singles Chart, reaching #3 for four weeks in November and December. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 17 song of 1970. It also reached #2 on both the Australian Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart. Its best performance was in New Zealand where it stayed at number one for 5 weeks at the end of the year.
The single version released by Uni Records was in mono, while the album version from Tap Root Manuscript was in stereo.
Song meaning
The song was written for chief music director Rosalie Trombley of CKLW radio in Windsor Ontario. The goal was to have Trombley play the record on air. CKLW was at the time one of North Americas most influential radio stations. As such air time promised hope for a hit record. Hence the "play it now" reference of the tune was a direct plea to Trombley. Rosalie refused several romantic overtures from Diamond and still lives in the Windsor area as 2017.
Married to a catchy and dynamic melody and arrangement, the lyrics suggested to some a devotion to a woman of the night:
Oh, I love my Rosie child — You got the way to make me happy. You and me, we go in style ... Cracklin' Rose, you're a store bought woman You make me sing like a guitar hummin' ...But in actuality, Cracklin' Rosie is a type of wine. Diamond heard a story about a native Canadian tribe while doing an interview in Toronto, Canada – the tribe had more men than women, so the lonely men of the tribe would sit around the fire and drink their wine together – which inspired him to write the song.
The title has also been interpreted to be a misspelling of a rosé wine which is "crackling" – a U.S. term equivalent to pétillant or lightly sparkling. A Crackling Rosé is produced by, for example, Paul Masson Vineyards and Beckett's Flat.
Many Diamond fans have traditionally believed the crackling wine he was referring to was Sparkling Mateus Rose, a medium quality, low priced artificially carbonated wine favored by college students on the West Coast of the U.S. during the late 1960s and early 1970s, or Richards Wild Irish Rose, an alcoholic beverage produced by Centerra Wine Company, which is part of the Constellation Brands organization.