Los Lobos – Set Me Free (Rosa Lee)

This song has the effect on me that an Otis Redding song would. It makes me feel good, and it has a 50s – 60s R&B sound to it, at least to me. Also, the groove is infectious. They kept the structure simple and let the groove carry it. César Rosas handles the vocals, and the band keeps everything locked in behind him like a machine.

This song appeared in 1987 on By the Light of the Moon, the album they released in the same year as the success of La Bamba. That put the band in a different spot. They suddenly had a wider audience, but instead of repeating that sound, they went back to something closer to their roots, mixing rock and roll with R&B and older influences they grew up on in East L.A.

Los Lobos (Spanish for “The Wolves”) started in the early 1970s in East Los Angeles. High school friends David Hidalgo, Louie Pérez, Cesar Rosas, and Conrad Lozano started playing together. The guy who brought them together was Francisco González. He left the band before fame and became the musical director of El Teatro Campesino and went on to start Guadalupe Custom Strings. They started off by playing top 40 music, but soon tired of that. They drew inspiration from the Mexican folk music they heard as kids. They didn’t fit into the typical rock band mold… instead, they experimented with acoustic instruments like the jarana, requinto, and bajo sexto. 

They opened for such artists as The Clash and  The Blasters. Steve Berlin, who was born in Philadelphia, played saxophone for the Blasters and then left the group to join Los Lobos. To his delight, he found the other members of Los Lobos shared a love for country artists such as Hank Williams and George Jones. The band mixed so many styles…Mexican folk music, country, and rock all in the same bag. 

This song peaked at #21 on the Mainstream Rock Charts, #45 in New Zealand, and #99 in the UK in 1987. 

Set Me Free (Rosa Lee)

When love’s in vain, love can be so strangeThere ain’t nothing I can take to kill this painSet me freeWhy don’t you, Rosa Lee?

She is a dream, but she’s so hard to pleaseShe moves around like an Egyptian queenSet me freeWhy don’t you, Rosa Lee?

I’m so afraid of losing youBut there’s only so much that a man can doFor Rosa LeeWhy don’t you set me free?

When I hit the road the time goes slowThinking about the places I used to goWith Rosa LeeWhy won’t you set me free?

They’re trying to close the Tu y YoThe Latin playboy and the sky room showsRosa LeeWhy don’t they let them be?

I can’t get used to losing youBut there’s only so much that a man can doFor Rosa LeeWhy don’t you set me free?

People say that you were made for meI knocked my head [?]But they’ll never know the hurt it takes to beRosa Lee

When love’s in vain, love can be so strangeBut I never thought I’d wear a ball and chainSet me freeWhy don’t you, Rosa Lee?

Set me freeWhy don’t you, Rosa Lee?Why don’t you set me freeWhy don’t you Rosa Lee, yeah

Why don’t you set free, why don’t you set freeYou got to set me freeYou got to, you got to, you got to set free, baby, ah, yeah, ooh

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

24 thoughts on “Los Lobos – Set Me Free (Rosa Lee)”

  2. Pingback: Los Lobos – Set Me Free (Rosa Lee) – MobsterTiger

  3. Great song from a great album. Nice live version. The first time I heard it, the groove made me think of Motown, and I loved it immediately. Still do. Very good choice today.

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  4. César Rosas is like Los Lobos’ George Harrison to Hidalgo and Pérez as Lennon/ McCartney; or Bob Weir to the Dead’s Garcia/Hunter. Another songwriter whose work is very different. One correction – it is César Rosas singing.

    The album this is from is one of the best ever. My Amazon review says ” It is rock and roll literature; a serious contender for the best rock album of all time; it is an album, not just a bunch of songs thrown together, nor is it a pretentious “concept album”. In the days of trade guilds, a young journeyman put his heart and soul into one project to showcase all of his skills in order to advance from journeyman to master. This is that piece for Los Lobos and why they call it a masterpiece!”

    I still stand behind that statement. If one needs evidence that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke, Exhibit A is that Los Lobos are not in it.

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    1. Sorry and thank you…I corrected that. I was going to do an album review, which I should have. You are right…ever single song was on the mark. This song in particular…is about as perfect as it can be.
      I agree with you about the Hall of Fame…there are so many examples of who is in and who is not…and some that are in are questionable to say the least.

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  7. This song is instant love, Max! While I’ve always thought Los Lobos did a great job with “La Bamba” and I’m glad it gave them a hit, there is so much more to this group than their cover of the Ritchie Valens adaptation.

    I started getting into some of their music about six years ago and also got a chance to catch them twice in New Jersey, most recently in February 2023. They have great variety from rock & roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues and soul to traditional Spanish music like cumbia, bolero and norteño.

    I wish I would have more time to further explore Los Lobos and can highly recommend them!

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  8. I have loved Los Lobos since the first ep came out. I still consider the,ir cover of Anselma a favorite, even if the gringo in me doesn’t understand the words. I don’t need to know what the words mean as I sing along.

    I remember going to see them one time at McCabes in Santa Monica. Unbeknownst to me prior to the show, it was all Mexican songs (at least I assume they were Mexican), all in Spanish. I had a great time, it was lovely. But best of all, my wife (born and raised in Mexico) knew the songs and SHE LOVED IT.

    I got nothing to say but good stuff about these guys.

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    1. That is cool that you got to see them. I was going to review the album….and I probably will next time. Fantastic album…every song hits perfectly.
      Always cool to have your wife like the music. Sometimes mine does…sometimes not.

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      1. My wife loves music and is a very good sport. When we first got married, the kids filled the apartment with the sounds of Saturday Night Fever. The kids are on their own now, and where we live has a soundtrack of Vicente Fernandez, Tom Russell, the Blasters, the Bobs and a whole lot more.

        When we first got married, there was an Ed Sullivan type show on Univision. Siempre En Domingo hosted by Raul Velaaquez. As I am fond of saying, yo soy Gringo. But the show was professional and a lot of fun. I’ve always thought it a pity that Univision took the show off the air (and Velazquez joined Sullivan on the other side) before Los Lobos got a chance to play it. Would have been a perfect synchronicity.

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      3. The Bobs! I haven’t heard them mentioned in years. I watched Siempre en Domingo when I lived in Mexico. My first date with my wife was to see Los Lobos (Warfield Theatre, San Francisco) and the last time I saw my friend David before he died was to see Los Lobos (with the Grateful Dead and David Lindley & El Rayo X) at Laguna Seca.

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      4. I am a BIG fan of the Bobs.

        I think having Los Lobos and David Lindley do Mercury Blues would be incredible. I don’t know that it ever happened, but the thought brings a smile, an exhausted smile, to my face.

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