Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with RetroPod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

When I ask you to imagine Rosie the Riveter, what comes to mind? Is it a young woman in a blue

work shirt, her sleeves rolled up and flexing her arm? She's got her black hair pulled back

under a red polka dot scarf. In the words,

we can do it, scrawled above her head. It wouldn't be surprising if this is what you think of.

She is a pop culture icon, a feminist image, a symbol of the women who joined the nation's workforce during World War II.

But the thing is, she isn't Rosie the Riveter.

Americans who lived during World War II would have described a totally different woman if you asked them the same question. Back then, she was a

character and a pop song. She's making history working for victory. Rosie, the Riveter, was

invented in 1942 by songwriters Jacob Loeb and Red Evans. According to music historian Robert Lissauer,

Loeb and Evans wanted to write about women in the war effort.

Rosie is protecting Charlie,

working overtime on the riveting machine.

The lyrics celebrated a woman who works all day

driving rivets on a bomber factory's assembly line.

They made up the name Rosie the Riveter because of the alliteration.

The song was recorded by an African-American vocal quartet from St. Louis called the Four Vagabonds in 1943.

And it was a hit.

Billboard reported on February 20th,

1943 that the single was already going strong

in the music boxes.

The song was so popular that it may have even inspired

...