THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

797-AC/DC-Whole Lotta Rosie.

1978-Number 68 single. The live version reached Number 36 in 1980.

Best Bit-At 0.37. The chubby chasers anthem.

AC/DC (see also best songs 245 and 170) were formed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in 1973, at the time of writing they remain active with Angus Young being the groups one constant. AC/DC are one of the worlds best ever selling acts, with sales in excess of 200 million records sold. Their 1980 Album ‘Back in Black,’ is the second best selling Album of all time, with sales in excess of 50 million copies.

Angus McKinnon Young was born on March 31st, 1955, in Glasgow, Scotland, he had seven elder siblings, including six brothers and one sister. Angus was brought up in the Cranhill district of Glasgow, which was a tough, working class suburb with high unemployment. After seeing an advertisement on television offering assisted travel for families to immigrate to Australia, 15 members of the extended Young family migrated in June 1963. Angus Young was 18 years old when he and his brother Malcolm (1953-2017) formed AC/DC in 1973, their first single ‘Can I Sit Next To You Girl,’ reached Number 50 on the ‘Aria’ chart in Australia in 1974, but did not appear on the groups debut studio Album ‘High Voltage,’ in 1975. Angus Young is known for his flamboyant stage performances, which include his signature schoolboy look, which was suggested to him by his sister Margaret, who also chose the bands name. In order to match the schoolboy image, the press and the public were told that Angus was born in 1959, instead of his true birth year of 1955. Angus Young has stated that his musical influences include Little Richard, (1932-2020) Muddy Waters, (1913-1983) and Chuck Berry (1926-2017.) As part of his stage performance, Angus includes his version of the ‘Duck Walk,’ which he copied from Chuck Berry (see also best songs 548-308 and 30.)

‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ was the fourth and final single released from ‘Let There Be Rock,’ which was the fourth studio Album by AC/DC from March 1977. ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ was co-written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott, (1946-1980) with the production being by Harry Vanda, and George Young (1946-2017) (see also best songs 939-447 and 245.) ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ became a fans favourite, and a staple of very nearly everyone of the groups live performances, with the audience always shouting ‘Angus,’ at the start of the songs introduction. In 1978 AC/DC released their first live Album called ‘If You Want Blood You’ve Got It,’ which was the only live Album recorded with Bon Scott. After the death of Scott in 1980, the live version of ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ was re-issued from the Album, and charted in the UK at Number 36, it had originally been released as the only single from ‘If You Want Blood You’ve Got It,’ in 1978, when it failed to chart.

The intro to ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ is based on the 1955 Chuck Berry song ‘No Money Down,’ which AC/DC had initially used as the main riff for an earlier song of their’s called ‘Dirty Eyes,’ which they re-worked into ‘Whole Lotta Rosie.’ The original track ‘Dirty Eyes’ was eventually issued on the AC/DC five disc ‘box set, ‘ ‘Bonfire,’ in 1997. ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ is the story about a woman whose measurements are ’42’-39′-56,’ and she weighs in at 19 stones (121 kg.) The song is based on a true story, Angus Young has explained,’We’d been in Tasmania, and after the show Bon Scott 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.’ In recent years the woman the song was written about has been identified as Rosemaree Garcia, an Australian sex worker, who saw Bon Scott for some time before he went to England. Rosie was born in Launceston, Tasmania, and lived in St Kilda, and died in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran, in 1979, at the age of 22.

‘Wan’ tell you story ’bout woman I know. When it comes to lovin’ she steals the show. She ain’t exactly pretty, ain’t exactly small, 42-39-56, you could say she’s got it all.’