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Black Magic Woman

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This article is about the song. For the album, see Black Magic Woman (album). For the 1991 thriller, see Black Magic Woman (film).
"Black Magic Woman"
Single by Fleetwood Mac
B-side"The Sun Is Shining"
Released29 March 1968
RecordedFebruary 1968
GenreBlues rock
Length2:48
LabelBlue Horizon (57-3138)
Songwriter(s)Peter Green
Producer(s)Mike Vernon[1]
Fleetwood Mac singles chronology
"I Believe My Time Ain't Long"
(1967) 		"Black Magic Woman"
(1968) 		"Need Your Love So Bad"
(1968)

"Black Magic Woman" is a song written by British musician Peter Green, which first appeared as a single for his band Fleetwood Mac in 1968. Subsequently, the song appeared on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums English Rose (US) and The Pious Bird of Good Omen (UK), as well as the later Greatest Hits and Vintage Years[2] compilations.

In 1970, the song was released as the first single from Santana's album Abraxas. The song, as sung by Gregg Rolie, reached number four on the US and Canadian charts, and its chart success made Santana's recording the better-known version of the song.[3]

The song was also covered by former Fleetwood Mac member Bob Welch on his 2006 album His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond, Vol. 2. Although Welch was not a member of the group at the time of the original recording, he had performed a number of Peter Green's songs during his time with the band.

Composition

[edit]

"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".[4][3] Green has acknowledged that "Black Magic Woman" was musically influenced by "All Your Love",[5] an Otis Rush song that had been recorded two years earlier by Green's former band, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers (albeit 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'."[3]

"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.[3]

Structure

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"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 root -chord jam after the final verse.[6]

D minor 7 | D minor 7 | A minor 7 | A minor 7 | D minor 7 | D minor 7 | G minor 7 | G minor 7 | Dm 7 - C 7 | Bb 7 - A 7 | D minor 7 | D minor 7

The original recording by Fleetwood Mac featured guitars that were slightly below standard pitch. Green started the song with a D minor triad down on the 17th fret played on one guitar with vibrato, creating a shimmering effect. A slide guitar playing the same chord is faded in over the top.[citation needed] A slightly distorted solo is played in the middle of the song.[7]

Performance

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Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" was released as a single in 1968, and reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.[3] The song was featured in Fleetwood Mac's live set-lists even after Green had left the band, when it was usually sung by Danny Kirwan. 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.[8] Stevie Nicks performed the song with slight changes in lyrics in the 2018-2019 tour An Evening with Fleetwood Mac.[9]

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.[10][11]

Charts

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Chart performance for "Black Magic Woman"
Chart (1968) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[12] 37

Santana version

[edit]
"Black Magic Woman"
Artwork for the US vinyl single
Single by Santana
from the album Abraxas
B-side"Hope You're Feeling Better"
ReleasedNovember 1970[13]
Genre
Length5:24 (Album Version)
3:20 (Single Version)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Peter Green ("Black Magic Woman"), Gábor Szabó ("Gypsy Queen")
Producer(s)Fred Catero, Carlos Santana
Santana singles chronology
"Soul Sacrifice"
(1970) 		"Black Magic Woman"
(1970) 		"Oye Como Va"
(1971)

Background

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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,[15] 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.

Structure

[edit]

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.[16]

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]

Charts

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Chart (1970-1971) Peak
position
Australian Singles (Kent Music Report)[17] 15
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[18] 16
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[19] 38
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[20] 4
Finnish Singles (The Official Finnish Charts)[21] 30
Italy (Musica e dischi)[22] 27
US Billboard Hot 100[23] 4
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[24] 29
West Germany (GfK)[25] 14

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[26] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Info on Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman"". 45cat.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Here's the "Real" Fleetwood Mac Playing "Black Magic Woman" in 1974". Paste. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e Unterberger, Richie (2017). Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. ISBN 9781627889759 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Cohen, Mike (July 2020). "Peter was never comfortable being a rock star, says Black Magic Woman Sandra". Jewish Telegraph.
  5. ^ Celmins, Martin (1998). Peter Green: Founder of Fleetwood Mac. Sanctuary Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 1-86074-233-5.
  6. ^ Greenwald, Matthew. "Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  7. ^ Prown, Pete; Newquist, Harvey P. (1997). Legends of Rock Guitar. H Leonard. p. 35. ISBN 9780793540426 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Unterberger, Richie (2017). Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. ISBN 9781627889759 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Fleetwood Mac ~ Black Magic Woman ~ New Orleans ~ 2/16/2019 – via Youtube.
  10. ^ Egan, Sean (2016). Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9781783238606 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ "Santana perform "Black Magic Woman" at the 1998 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony". Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – via YouTube.
  12. ^ "Fleetwood Mac: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  13. ^ "Billboard". 7 November 1970.
  14. ^ Henderson, Alex. "Abraxas – Santana | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Santana". Billboard.com. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  16. ^ Olsen, Eric (16 February 2004). "The Voodoo That You Do: Classic Santana". Blogcritics.org. Archived from the original on 27 November 2005. Retrieved 24 September 2006.
  17. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  18. ^ "Santana – Black Magic Woman" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  19. ^ "Santana – Black Magic Woman" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  20. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3748." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  21. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  22. ^ "Top Annuale Singoli 1971". HPI.
  23. ^ "Santana Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  24. ^ "Santana Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  25. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Santana – Black Magic Woman" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  26. ^ "British single certifications – Santana – Black Magic Woman". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
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