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Black Magic Woman
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"Black Magic Woman" is a song written by Peter Green that first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1968, subsequently appearing on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums English Rose (US) and The Pious Bird of Good Omen (UK). It became a classic hit by Santana in 1970, reaching #4 in the U.S. and Canadian charts, after appearing on their Abraxas album, becoming more closely associated with Santana than Fleetwood Mac.
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Encyclopedia
"Black Magic Woman" is a song written by Peter Green that first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1968, subsequently appearing on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums English Rose (US) and The Pious Bird of Good Omen (UK). It became a classic hit by Santana in 1970, reaching #4 in the U.S. and Canadian charts, after appearing on their Abraxas album, becoming more closely associated with Santana than Fleetwood Mac. In 2005 the song was covered by ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Snowy White on his album The Way It Is. In 1996 the song was also covered by Gary Hoey on his album Bug Alley .
Fleetwood Mac version
Although not nearly as popular as Santana's arrangement two years later, "Black Magic Woman" nevertheless became a fairly popular blues-rock hit peaking at #37 in the UK Singles Chart. It was featured in Fleetwood Mac live set-lists even after Green had left the band, when it was often sung by Danny Kirwan, and during concerts in the early 1970s it would form the basis for long mid-concert jams. The song would often be preceded by a band member reminding the audience that it was a Fleetwood Mac song before it became such a big hit for Santana.
Structure
Set in the key of D minor, the verse follows a twelve bar chord progression alternating between D minor7, A minor7, and G minor7, and the instrumentation consists of vocals, two guitars, bass guitar and drums. It is homophonic, the voice and lead guitar taking the lead roles, and set in common time (4/4).
- D minor 7 | D minor 7 | A minor 7 | A minor 7 | D minor 7 | D minor 7 | G minor 7 | G minor 7 | D minor 7 | A minor 7 | D minor 7 | D minor 7
Santana version
Background
Santana's version, recorded in 1970, is a medley with Gábor Szabó's 1967 "Gypsy Queen", a mix of jazz, Hungarian folk and Latin rhythms. The song became one of Santana's staples and their biggest hit. Abraxas reached #1 on the charts and hit quadruple platinum in 1986, partially thanks to "Black Magic Woman." The Santana version is also used as a cover in the music/rhythm video games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: On Tour.
Structure
While the song follows the same general structure of Peter Green's version, also set in common time, in D Dorian and using the same chord progression, melody and lyrics, it is considerably different. A curious blend of blues, rock, jazz, 3/2 afro-Cuban son clave, and "Latin" polyrhythms, Santana's arrangement added conga, timbales and other percussion, in addition to organ and piano, to make complex polyrhythms that give the song a "voodoo" feel distinct from the original.
The introduction of the song, which was adapted from Szabo's "Gypsy Queen", consists of simple hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, before moving into the introduction solo of "Black Magic Woman." After the introduction solo, which follows the same chord progression as the verse, the song moves into an eight-bar piano solo on D minor, and proceeds to two verses sung by keyboardist Gregg Rolie. Two verses of guitar solo follow the two sung verses, which is then succeeded by another verse, before moving into a modified version of the "Gypsy Queen" section from the beginning of the song, to end the piece.
There is also a single edit that runs for 3:15. On the radio the piano solo is sometimes omitted while "Gypsy Queen" is almost always omitted. Whilst other longer versions have since been released, including one which runs for 8:56.
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