Rosie is inspired by Alex Southey’s attempts at growing of herbs – specifically Rosemary – on a balcony in Vancouver. In a strange way the failure of the crop became an allegory for Southey’s feelings for the city of his birth: “the city sells itself well, but has its pitfalls: rain all the time, darkness, basements, high price of living – it can all seep into you. For a long time, I was giving something to it and it didn’t give me anything back.” This song, from Alex Southey’s third album ‘…And the Country Stirred,’ is then itself a love letter of sorts to Vancouver, embodied in the form of the difficult “Rosie”.
