Black Magic Woman

"Black Magic Woman" was written by Peter Green in 1968, with lyrics inspired by his former girlfriend, Sandra Elsdon, whom Green had nicknamed "Magic Mamma".{{cite news |url= https://mike1cohen.medium.com/peter-was-never-comfortable-being-a-rock-star-says-black-magic-woman-sandra-971ef15d04fd |title= Peter was never comfortable being a rock star, says Black Magic Woman Sandra|work=Jewish Telegraph|date= July 2020 |first=Mike |last=Cohen}} Green has acknowledged that "Black Magic Woman" was musically influenced by "All Your Love",

{{cite book|last = Celmins|first = Martin|title = Peter Green: Founder of Fleetwood Mac |year= 1995|publisher=Castle Communications|isbn =1-898141-134|pages= 69, 131}} an Otis Rush song that had been recorded two years earlier by Green's former band, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, with Eric Clapton, Green's predecessor, on lead guitar. Green said in Peter Green: The Biography: "One of things [Mayall] said was that if you really like something, you should take the first lines and make up another song from them. So that's what I did with 'Black Magic Woman'."{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kd-cDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31|title=Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History|first=Richie |last=Unterberger|date=2017 |isbn=9781627889759 |publisher=Voyageur Press |via=Google Books}}

"Black Magic Woman" is a minor blues with a Latin rhythm first explored in Green's "I Loved Another Woman" in Fleetwood Mac's 1968 self-titled debut album. Mike Vernon, who produced the recording session for "Black Magic Woman", said that the song "represents a high spot in the band's early recording career."{{cite AV media notes|title= The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967–1969|others= Fleetwood Mac|year=1999 |last=Vernon |first= Mike |author-link= Mike Vernon (record producer) |type=Boxed set booklet|publisher=Sire Records|id= 73003-2 |location= New York City |pages=8–9}}

"Black Magic Woman" has the same chord structure, guitar breaks, and even a similar melody to "I Loved Another Woman". 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. The song is set in common time (4/4), with the rhythm "pushing" on the upbeat, then breaking into a shuffle beat jam after the final verse.{{cite web|last=Greenwald|first=Matthew|title=Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac {{!}} Song Info|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/black-magic-woman-mt0055992147|access-date=15 May 2019|website=AllMusic}}

Fleetwood Mac recorded the song at CBS Studios on 14 February 1968 with Mike Vernon serving as producer and Mike Ross serving as the audio engineer for the session. Take 7 was selected as the master from that session; additional work was also conducted on 22 February 1968 at the same recording facility.{{Cite book |last=Hjort |first=Christopher |url=https://archive.org/details/strangebrewericc00hjor/page/160/mode/2up|url-access=registration |title=Strange Brew: Eric Clapton and the British Blues Boom |publisher=Jawbone Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-906002-00-8|pages=160–161 |via=Internet Archive}} The song begins with guitar harmonics that create a simmering effect.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=60Jde3l7WNwC&pg=PA35|title=Legends of Rock Guitar|first1= Pete |last1=Prown|first2= Harvey P.|last2= Newquist|date=1997 |isbn=9780793540426 |page=35 |publisher=H Leonard |via=Google Books}} A slightly distorted solo is played in the middle of the song and an additional solo follows during the coda.

Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" was released as a single in 1968, and reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart. After Jeremy Spencer left the band in 1971, Green temporarily returned to fulfill the remaining scheduled dates. These performances would include an extended instrumental jam of "Black Magic Woman" that often exceeded the original run-time of the studio recording.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/jsmith000049/ |title=Off the record in interview with Christine McVie|date=4 December 1986|medium=Interview |language=en-US |time=27:03 |time-caption= |access-date=11 April 2025 |via=Library of Congress |people=Joe Smith; McVie, Christine}} In his biography of Peter Green, Martin Celmins wrote that the band's performance of "Black Magic Woman" at the Filmore East lasted four hours. By the 1987's Shake the Cage Tour, performance of "Black Magic Woman" was blocked by John McVie, who felt the song too closely linked to Santana. As such, "I Loved Another Woman", another Green composition, was played during that tour instead. Stevie Nicks performed "Black Magic Woman" with slight changes in lyrics in the 2018-2019 tour An Evening with Fleetwood Mac.{{Cite web |last=Oller |first=Julia |date=8 November 2018 |title=Concert review {{!}} Fleetwood Mac: Legendary rock band stays with tried and true |url=https://www.dispatch.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/11/08/concert-review-fleetwood-mac-legendary/8682835007/ |access-date=11 April 2025 |website=The Columbus Dispatch}}

Peter Green played the song with Santana at the 1998 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony where the inductees included both Fleetwood Mac and Santana.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i0r_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31|title=Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters |first= Sean |last= Egan|date= 2016 |isbn=9781783238606 |publisher=Omnibus Press |via=Google Books}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asZ5ouj_44k |title=Santana perform "Black Magic Woman" at the 1998 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony |work=Rock & Roll Hall of Fame|via=YouTube }} Santana had tasked Fleetwood with recruiting Green to play guitar on "Black Magic Woman" for the induction ceremony. Green agreed to participate and joined Santana for a rehearsal to run through the song, where he played "one, maybe two sustained notes" according to Fleetwood. After the rehearsal, Green told Fleetwood that he was unwilling to recreate one of his guitar solos from his earlier live performances of "Black Magic Woman" based on his belief that doing so would be tantamount to retreading old territory. Green still agreed to play at the induction ceremony and turned his volume down on his guitar on a few occasions, which made the instrument largely inaudible within the venue.{{cite book|last1=Fleetwood|first1=Mick|last2=Bozza|first2=Anthony|author-link2=Anthony Bozza|title=Play On|date=October 2014|publisher=Little Brown and Company|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-316-40342-9|pages=58–59|edition=first}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Black Magic Woman

| cover = Black Magic Woman by Santana US vinyl.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Artwork for the US vinyl single

| type = single

| artist = Santana

| album = Abraxas

| B-side = Hope You're Feeling Better

| released = November 1970{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSkEAAAAMBAJ&q=santana+black+magic+woman&pg=RA1-PA39|title=Billboard|date=7 November 1970}}

| recorded =

| studio = Wally Heider Studios (San Francisco, CA){{AllMusic|class=album|tab=review|id=r403823|first=Alex|last=Henderson|access-date=2005-09-15}}

| genre = {{hlist|Blues rock{{cite web|last=Henderson|first=Alex|title=Abraxas – Santana {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/abraxas-mfsl-mw0000191745|access-date=28 May 2021|website=AllMusic}}|Latin rock|psychedelic rock}}

| length = 5:24 (album version)
3:20 (single version)

| label = Columbia

| writer = {{hlist|Peter Green ("Black Magic Woman")|Gábor Szabó ("Gypsy Queen")}}

| producer = {{hlist|Fred Catero|Carlos Santana}}

| prev_title = Soul Sacrifice

| prev_year = 1970

| next_title = Oye Como Va

| next_year = 1971

| misc =

}}

Santana's version, recorded in 1970, is a medley with Gábor Szabó's 1966 instrumental "Gypsy Queen", a mix of jazz, Hungarian folk and Latin rhythms. The song became one of Santana's staples and one of their biggest hits, with the single spending 13 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaking at number four in January 1971,{{Cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/santana/chart-history/hsi/|title=Santana|website=Billboard.com|access-date=1 June 2021}} their highest-peaking Hot 100 hit until 1999's "Smooth". Santana's 1970 album, Abraxas, reached no. 1 on the charts and hit quadruple platinum in 1986, partially thanks to "Black Magic Woman".

"Gypsy Queen" was omitted from the single version contained on 1974's Santana's Greatest Hits album, even though radio stations usually play "Black Magic Woman" and "Gypsy Queen" as one song.

While the song follows the same general structure of Peter Green's version, also set in common time, in D minor and using the same melody and lyrics, it is considerably different, with a slightly altered chord pattern (Dm₇– Am₇–Dm₇–Gm₇–Dm₇–Am₇–Dm₇), occasionally mixing between the Dorian and Aeolian modes, especially in the song's intro. 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.{{cite web |url=http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/02/16/155414.php |title=The Voodoo That You Do: Classic Santana |first=Eric |last=Olsen |date=16 February 2004 |website=Blogcritics.org |access-date=24 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051127073952/http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/02/16/155414.php |archive-date=27 November 2005}}

The introduction of the song, which was adapted from Szabó's "Gypsy Queen", consists of simple hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides on the guitar and bass, before moving into the introductory guitar solo of "Black Magic Woman". After the introductory solo, which follows the same chord progression as the verse, the song moves into an eight-bar piano solo in D minor, and proceeds to two verses sung by keyboardist Gregg Rolie. Two verses of guitar solo follow the two sung verses, which are 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, a slightly shorter version of the song that omits the opening piano solo and the "Gypsy Queen" portion, that runs for 3:15, while some radio versions play the full recording. Other longer versions have since been released, including one version which runs for 8:56.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Santana|title=Black Magic Woman|award=Silver|relyear=2007|certyear=2023|id=18906-1766-1|access-date=21 April 2023}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Fleetwood Mac}}

{{Santana}}

{{Mick Fleetwood}}

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Category:1968 songs

Category:1968 singles

Category:1970 singles

Category:Fleetwood Mac songs

Category:Music published by Bourne Co. Music Publishers

Category:Santana (band) songs

Category:Epic Records singles

Category:Columbia Records singles

Category:Songs written by Peter Green (musician)