The song came first, in 1942.
“Rosie the Riveter” by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb
All the day long, whether rain or shine
She’s a part of the assembly line
She’s making history, working for victory
Rosie, brrrrrrrrrrr, the riveter
Keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage
Sitting up there on the fuselage
That little frail can do more than a male can do
Rosie, brrrrrrrrrrr, the riveter
Rosie’s got a boyfriend, Charlie
Charlie, he’s a Marine
Rosie is protecting Charlie
Workin’ overtime on the riveting machine
When they gave her a production ‘E’
She was as proud as a girl could be
There’s something true about, red, white, and blue about
Rosie, brrrrrrrrrrr, the riveter
Then came the “We Can Do It!” poster — but that wasn’t really Rosie.
In 1943 Norman Rockwell created a “Rosie” for The Saturday Evening Post — but he “adopted” the name from the song (and the Post was nervous about that for a long time).
 |
 |
In 1942, as World War II raged in Europe and the Pacific and the song “Rosie the Riveter” filled radio waves across the home front, manufacturing giant Westinghouse commissioned artist J. Howard Miller to make a series of posters to promote the war effort. One such poster featured the image of a woman with her hair wrapped up in a red polka-dot scarf, rolling up her sleeve and flexing her bicep. At the top of the poster, the words ‘We Can Do It!’ are printed in a blue caption bubble. To many people, this image is “the” Rosie the Riveter. But it was never the intention to make this image “Rosie,” nor did many Americans think of her as “Rosie.” The connection of Miller’s image and “Rosie” is a recent phenomenon.
The “Rosie” image popular during the war was created by illustrator Norman Rockwell (who had most certainly heard the “Rosie the Riveter” song) for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943 — the Memorial Day issue. The image depicts a muscular woman wearing overalls, goggles and pins of honor on her lapel. She sports a leather wrist band and rolled-up sleeves. She sits with a riveting tool in her lap, eating a sandwich, and “Rosie” is inscribed on her lunch pail. And, she’s stepping on a copy of Adolph Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf.”
After the cover, stories about real-life Rosies, many of them actually named Rosie, sprouted in newspapers. And the Federal government adapted the name and depiction for one of the most successful advertising campaigns ever.
Howard Miller’s “Rosie” has emerged as the most recognizable of the Rosies, but she wasn’t even a Rosie.
One version of the song that started it all.