Fan Reviews / Comments

ROVIANNE
(Words and Music by Rick Springfield)

Rovianne
Rovianne

When I breathe
I swear that I could draw you in
I hide my feelings
But the veil is thin
It's fall at the touch of your fingers
Or the smell of your skin

Late at night
Sometimes I have to ease my heat
I see your body burning on my sheet
It fades and the heat still lingers
I want to see you again

Here she comes
Yeah, I watch her walk on by
Here she comes
And I see her hair in the sun
Here she comes
I know she's a little shy
Rovianne
My heart bangs like a drum
With a message to Rovianne
Rovianne
I'd do anything to be your lover
Yeah Rovianne, Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Though it's bitter and sweet
Rovianne
You've got me dancing in the street
Rovianne
Rovianne

Here she comes
That Mona Lisa smile is on her face
With that body and that animal grace
I want to go through your armour like a hurricane

Here she comes
Yeah, I watch her walk on by
Here she comes
And I see her hair in the sun
Here she comes
I know she's a little shy
Rovianne
My heart bangs like a drum
With a message to Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
I'd do anything to be your lover
Yeah Rovianne, Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Though it's bitter and sweet
Rovianne
You've got me dancing in the street
Rovianne
Rovianne

Here she comes
Yeah, I watch her walk on by
Here she comes
And I see her hair in the sun
Here she comes
I know she's a little shy
Rovianne
My heart bangs like a drum
With a message to Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
I'd do anything
Rovianne
To be your lover
Yeah Rovianne, Rovianne
Though it's bitter and sweet
You've got me dancing in the street
Rovianne

Rovianne
I'd do anything to be your lover
Yeah Rovianne, Rovianne
Though it's bitter and sweet
You've got me dancing in the street

Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne
Rovianne

(total playing time 3:31)

Song Facts: This can be found on Sahara Snow.

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I have to confess that this was not one of my favorites on the CD. I have skipped past it more than a time or two.

For the purpose of this review thing, I have purposely listened to this one a lot. I am liking it a little bit more, BUT I also think I know part of the reason I feel like skipping through it. I dislike the chorus. For some reason the repeated "Rovianne's" make me want to change the channel. It just grates on me. I do really like the verses of the song. Holy first verse ;o)~ but I get to the chorus and it's on to "Scandalous Life" time.  I do like the lyrics.

Steamy lyrics. :o)

To me some of the lyrics almost go back to some of the themes of more than a few of his earlier songs.  The having someone's love physically, but wanting more of a deeper soul connection, but she keeps that part of herself from him and won't let him in to that deeper place within her.  There is just one simple line, but it brings out that old theme. " I want to go through your armour like a hurricane."  Like he wants the intensity of what they physically have between them to make that soul connection past whatever walls she has put up to protect that part of herself from anyone. He wants to make it so intense that she can't help but let him in.

The repeated Rovianne's at the end of the song are painful for me too. And they even had to throw a key change in there just so we could have some more out to the end of the song :o/ At least I discovered what really bugged me about this song, because I really don't hate it all. I just really have trouble making it through some of the repeated stuff.

In general I like this CD some songs (we'll get to those) I like better than others.  Not being a songwriter my self I often wonder what comes first the music or the words.  I think Rick said he can work either way - someone with a better memory or archive of interviews please correct me if he has stated a preference.

I also wonder if he is writing from a direct inspiration or imagining what someone else is thinking - maybe he had a conversation with a friend about a person they see often - perhaps a waitress or the Starbucks gal.

The video might show the man (Rick) sitting on a bench at a park, beach, pier etc and this lady wakes by which cause's him to catch his breath.  This same scenario happens every day/week, well you get the picture.

I like the beat, it's catchy.  Have no clue what dancing in the street has to do with anything unless he is trying to catch her attention.

The line that really sticks to me in this song is:

Late at night, sometimes I have to ease my heat...to me this is purely sexual.

Add me to the list of the people who love this song.  While I can see the obvious sexuality dripping out of these lyrics, I've always associated this song with other thoughts. 

First off, I love this name.  I love how it is *different*.  Growing up with a very common name is sometimes harder than if you have an unusual name.  You tend to just blend in with the crowd instead of sticking out, and you find yourself "having a great personality" to get yourself noticed.  Rovianne seems like the type of girl who wouldn't have a problem attracting attention according to Mr. Springfield.

To me this sounds like Rick is definitely in love with a girl - but a very, very young girl, perhaps a toddler.  (I'll cover that lover line in a bit)  I don't know how many of you are parents to a daughter, but it is sort of a different love than what you have for a son.  Girls are all soft & pink and baby powder smelling, and all you want to do is cuddle them when they are small.  "When I breathe I swear that I could draw you in"  When my daughter was born, I'd sit and rock her and just soak in her sweetness.  "...at the touch of your fingers and the smell of your skin"  I'd even catch my husband with the same kind of love-struck look of just being her presence.

"Late at night, sometimes I have to ease my heat - I see your body burning on my sheet".  Yeah, yeah I'm not deaf and/or dumb - I hear the obvious sexual undertones here, and oh it makes me swoon too but go ahead laugh, I'm one of those parents who had kids in their bed, often.  (save the lectures for another time please.)  If any of you have ever slept with a child you know they are like having a little heater right next to you, and you'll find yourself drenched in sweat in under an hour.  That's when you truck them off back to their own bed,  hope I didn't ruin any Rick fantasies with that thought.

The chorus is my favorite part of this song.  Even the beat takes on the sound of a toddler walking if you listen to it close enough.  "And I watch her walk on by, and I see her hair in the sun, I know she's a little shy..."  I can see Rick sitting in a park watching this little girl walking by, giving him that shy little smile that only little girls possess.  My daughter is still extremely shy (she's going on 7 now) yet would shyly smile at strangers wherever we went as long as she was secure in my presence.  I'm sure she'd give Rick the same smile if she ever met him. 

Now, for the line, "I'd do anything to be your lover".   I know the lyrics were included with this album, and I've gone back many a time to check out what I'm hearing with what Rick says he's saying.  I swear in this song that line to me sounds like, "I'd do anything for your love, uh".  I must have checked that line a few dozen times, and decided that I like my way better.  :-)   So I'm knowingly singing it incorrectly, but hey-you're not standing in my living room with me dancing around noticing that I'm singing it wrong anyway, so leave me at my wrongness.

For the record, this song sounds just so "radio ready" to me as a single.  Either that or placed in some cutesy teenybopper movie.  Oh, and my kids like it too.  So we listen often.  I've also psychoanalyzed myself about my thoughts on this song (what am I, nuts??) and the only rational thought that I've come up with is that my daughter was about a year old when I first acquired this CD.  Go figure :-)

For a final side note, at the bottom of these lyrics it says: (Additional B. Vox: The Tug)  I wonder if that's Brett Tuggle??  

Late at night
Sometimes I have to ease my heat
I see your body burning on my sheet
It fades and the heat still lingers
I want to see you again

All I can say here is that this is a major THUD line!!! That verse brings about a million visuals to mind! Whew! I'm surprised I didn't wear out that part of the CD, after all the rewinding I did on it. LOL!

Love the line that says "My heart bangs like a drum with a message to Rovianne". (Ever notice how when he sings "heart" you don't really hear the "r"?) I can so remember feeling like my heart would just burst right out of my chest from feeling so much emotion, and I just think that line captures it perfectly. The "Here she comes" and "Rovianne" being sung in the background just enhances that.  He sees her walking closer and closer to him and then BAM there she is and his heart just pounds. Again, SIGH.

"Though it's bitter and sweet" He's happy to see her, be near her, but it's also bitter because she doesn't know how he feels about her. "You've go me dancing in the street" maybe it's supposed to mean that, despite it all, seeing her makes him feel so happy, he just feels like dancing.

I don't know why, but I really like the use of "animal grace". The contradiction brings to mind of how something can be wild and yet graceful at the same time, is thought provoking.

"I want to go through your armour like a hurricane" - urgently needing to make himself, his feelings known to her.

I guess it does get a bit repetitious at the end, but it doesn't bother me with this song.   I think it's kind of appropriate, actually, because if you're that wrapped up in someone, just consumed with thoughts of them, wanting to be with them, then your thoughts would run in circles like that... just keep thinking the same things over and over again.

I really love this song. It's one of the ones I've listened to on repeat for WAY too long.  I think I listened to it for a couple of hours one day, well, ok, more than just ONE day, but that is NOTHING compared to Scandalous Life.  But that is best kept for my next review... LOL.

I love Rovianne. I love the music - It rocks and I especially love the guitar strumming in this song.

The sexual lyrics are great! There's a couple of lines I particularly love. The 'animal grace' line always makes me think of a girl that has a kind of feline grace like cats have. And the 'you've got me dancing in the street' line I love too. I've never thought of it literally as dancing in the street but more as kind of saying 'She could get him to do anything for her' or 'she could get him dancing to her tune' kind of idea.

The 'I want to go through your armour like a hurricane' is another great line. This is just a great song to let your imagination run wild!

I so wish Rick'd do this live . I think he teases us in the Medley with doing just a couple of notes of it!

I’m trying, I’m really really trying with this CD.  The start ROVIANNE, ROVIANNE gives me this great feeling of anticipation like something great is here and then, well, YUCK!!!  Once again I feel like Rick is straining his voice and I dislike the sound just as much as I disliked Modern World.  At about 2 minutes and 45 seconds there’s a slight change in the music and I found I like that part much better (I think Rick isn’t so distorted by the music here). 

I love the lyrics. There’s a whole lot here about animal lust, desire and sex and it’s good.  Reading it gets my excited about the song, I just don’t like actually listening to the song.

O.k. I really like this song. :)  I love the imagery this song brings.  The wanting/longing for another person.  Love the harmonies and the overall sound of the song... the guitars, and the bass guitar mostly. :)

I thought it was interesting to read the review that put this song in reference to a child.  I now think of that when I hear this song. :)  It would be interesting to hear from Rick what the subject of the lyrics were... demo cuts of the SS music overall would be interesting to listen to lyrically.  He does seem to change and tweak lyrics to be more mainstream... I wonder what these all were originally?

From the very first time I heard Rovianne, I was hooked.  Now I can't say that about many songs on Sahara Snow, in fact it took me quite a while to warm up to this album overall. It was too different and much harder than Karma, I think I was really hungry for more songs like Karma when I got this album.

I remember the first time I heard those opening words "Rovianne, Rovianne" It was like, whoa, what is that?  Something about the words and the irresistible beat of the music combined together just totally blew me away. This is one that I love the lyrics and the music on.  I can play this song over and over and over again and not be tired of it.  I can easily say this is one of my top 3 songs by Rick. 

Obviously there is a girl named Rovianne that he sees on a regular basis, and he has a major attraction to her.  The first lines of the song clearly inform you of this "When I breathe I swear that I could draw you in..."  Just her presence overwhelms him and you can see how much he wants her when he says "I'd do anything to be your lover...."

"My heart bangs like a drum...." and "You've got me dancing in the street...." lyrics just add to the song, every time I hear them I would kind of have a visual of a guy just dancing in the street cause he was so happy. To me it made the point of the song so real, he is in love with this girl.

And for her, it appears to be kind of like a game. She can tell he likes her, and she truly enjoys that, for her that is amusing but she is not wanting to reciprocate the feelings.

You can see that in the line "Here she comes, that Mona Lisa smile on her face...with that body and that animal grace...."  You always hear about the Mona Lisa Smile painting and I always thought of it more as a *smirk* and not a smile. It kind of looks like she is saying "Ha, Ha".  And to me that fit in more with the game like attitude of Rovianne. She walks by, knows he likes her, and finds it amusing, so she smirks as she walks by.  I can visualize it and that is part of why I love this song so much.

To some degree you can see that he is aware that she doesn't feel the same when he says "Though it is bitter and sweet..." and "I want to go through your armour like a hurricane.."  You can see his frustration as well as his joy in this woman.  Based on the way the song goes, I get the impression that she would never ever give him the chance that he wants (to be with her).

The more I listen to this song...the more I love it and hear new things.   <

Time to listen to it again...

What can I possibly say about "Rovianne"? That I had to practically take a "cold" shower the first time I heard it? That it still makes me all "warm and toasty" when I listen to it even now? That it contains some of the most sensual lyrics Rick has ever written?  ALL of the above!!

One of the most exciting parts of the Karma Tour for me was the teasing little "snippet" of Rovianne that Rick sang during the Medley. He is a BIG freakin' tease and I love him for it!

This song is just another great example of his ability to write sensual and sexually charged lyrics without any "smutty" quality to them. I'm never put-off by the eroticism, but merely enjoy the "tingle". Rick is a genius, I tell ya!!. 

The brilliant opening verse creates a visual that's hard to shake."When I breathe, I swear that I can draw you in, I hide my feelings but the veil is thin, I fall at the touch of your fingers and the smell of your skin" I think we can safely deduce from these lyrics that he is quite the "sex machine".

But then there's the longing, which permeates so many of his songs - "I'd do anything to be your lover". The anticipation - "here she comes, yeah I watch her walk on by". And finally the joy - "my heart bangs like a drum". All emotions are in play. I love Rick's knack of putting his finger on the feelings we've all gone through. His songs are MORE than just mere songs, they "smack" of reality. And this one is no exception.  I'd say "Rovianne" was one lucky lady. And her story is one of my favorites from Sahara Snow.

This song is one that many, many people rave about and for the longest time, I just really didn't get it. At the same time, I've got a really bad habit of not listening to each and every word in a song. I've never been one to sit down with a cd and the liner notes and read the words. I tend to listen to the music in my car, so I miss things, for the longest time. I can't tell you how many times I'd listened to this song when I finally heard the line "late at night, sometimes I have to ease my heat". Now if that's not a visual, I don't know what is. I'm surprised I didn't wreck my car. Hey, this song's worth another listen, just to hear that line again. Then I started opening up to the song more and more as I listened to it. I like the first part "when I breathe, I swear that I can draw you in"....This whole song just oozes lust, and wanting, and longing and obsession. There are some kind of cliché lines, and some rhymes that might be just a little too easy, but I've come to rather like it. I don't like the music though, as much as the words. I feel that way about a lot of the songs on this cd.