Santana – ‘Evil Ways’
Song anatomy of the day
- Writers: Sonny Henry and Jimmy Zack
- Producer: Brent Dangerfield and Carlos Santana
- Recorded: Spring and summer 1969 in San Francisco, California
Released: October 1969 - Players:
Carlos Santana — guitar
Greg Rolie — vocals, keyboards
Michael Shrieve — drums
David Brown — bass
Jose “Chepito” Areas — timbales - Album: Santana (Columbia, 1969)
- Also on:
Santana’s Greatest Hits (Columbia, 1974)
Viva Santana (Columbia, 1988)
Dance of the Rainbow Serpent (Columbia Legacy, 1995)
Ultimate Santana (Arista, 2007)
and other compilations - Carlos Santana, a native of Autlan de Navarro, Mexico who emigrated with his family to the San Francisco Bay area, formed the Santana Blues Band in 1966.
- The group debuted June 16, 1968 at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.
Carlos Santana made his recording debut on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. - Thanks to manager Bill Graham’s connections, Santana appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and performed at Woodstock before their debut album was released in 1969.
- The second single from Santana’s debut album, “Evil Ways” peaked at Number Nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1970.
- Santana remembers that “the first time I heard this song, Bill Graham called us into his office at the Carousel Ballroom. He had this song by Willie Bob. And when he played it, it sounded like something great to do because at that time Santana was playing mainly long jams that you couldn’t tell heads from tails or bridge. So this is one of the first songs that we had to learn as far as verse and chorus and that kind of stuff.”
- The Santana album stayed on the Billboard Top 200 chart for more than two years and peaked at Number Four.
- Santana has sold more than four million copies.
FAST FORWARD:
- Greg Rolie left Santana in late 1971 to form the band Journey.
- Santana has continued to lead many editions of his band over the years.
- Santana was among a handful of bands to perform at both the original Woodstock in 1969 and the second Woodstock festival in 1994.
- Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.