31 Days of Halloween Hits: "Black Magic Woman" by Santana

by Julian Spivey
As we welcome October with its cool breezes, and - now socially distanced - festivities, we often think of scary movies, pumpkin patches and killers in masks. Rarely, if ever, do you hear anyone say what they’re looking forward to most about the season, is the music. Granted, Halloween music has nowhere near the mega-market that Christmas music has, but it seems that quality trumps quantity in this particular situation. With songs like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” Halloween season is a heavy hitter when it comes to music! 
 
That’s why we’re celebrating 31 Days of Halloween Hits here at The Word for the entire month of October. Every day we’re going to bring you a great song that fits right in on your Halloween playlist. Some are songs specifically written for the holiday, but others are great selections you can listen to year-around but have a great theme for the spookiest of all holidays. Some of these songs you’ve certainly heard and some are lesser known that we hope to familiarize you with. 

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Photo: Columbia Records

“Black Magic Woman” was originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac when they were a blues-rock group in their early days of the late ‘60s, before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined in the mid-‘70s and the group turned to a more pop-rock sound, as it was written by the band’s guitarist Peter Green. Released as a single it didn’t receive much fanfare until Santana covered it in 1970 and took the song to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1971.
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“Black Magic Woman” is still heavily featured on classic rock format radio stations to this day and is arguably considered Santana’s biggest hit, or at least was until 1999’s “Smooth” with Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty took pop culture by storm.
The tale of a voodoo lady trying to seduce a man and “make a devil out of me” belongs on any Halloween playlist with its soulful vocals by Gregg Rolie and Carlos Santana’s excellent, haunting guitar playing.

“Black Magic Woman” would also pair extremely well on your Halloween playlist with the band’s previous top-10 hit from the year before, “Evil Ways.”

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