I'm Winning-Santana-Wha?

Cafe Society
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There I was, dancing around Walgreens to this catchy little tune. Got some bounce in my step, thoughts in my head “Wow, I haven’t heard this in ages. What a catchy little tune…try to remember some lyrics so when you get home you can find out who sings it…What I thought was love that must have been lust…I’m winning!..da da da, da da da da da da…”
Google “I’m winning lyrics” I know it’s going to be a bust, there must be a million billion links. First link, Santana-I’m Winning. I check the lyrics. That’s it. That is Santana? Wha? I mention it to my husband, he remembers the song, I asked him to guess who sang it, he guessed Eric Carmen. I tell him it is Santana, he is as verklempt as I am.

Maybe it isn’t the best song ever, but it is a nice little catchy tune. Is this an island in the repertoire of Santana? Do they have more songs like this? Was it a phase? I found out it came off the Zebop! album in 1981.

I always considered Carlos Santana to be a musician of above average talent that tends to make music for a small group of rabid fans and since I’m not a guitar aficionado, that I wasn’t missing a whole bunch. Nor do I speak Spanish.

Tell me Teeming Millions. Have I been missing out all these years?

I had a dream and it turned to dust…

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Where to begin, where to begin…

Carlos has reinvented himself many times through the years. Toward the end of the 70’s he swung from a very jazz oriented sound back to a more radio-friendly pop sound, beginning with Inner Secrets which had hits in “Open Invitation” and “Well All Right”.

In '79 he released Marathon from which came “All I Ever Wanted”, “Stand Up/Runnin” and “Stay (beside me)”. The singer on this album was Alex Ligertwood (formerly with Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express) who is also the singer on “Winning” and has been with the band off and on ever since.

Next up (ignoring a solo album) in '81 came the aformentioned Zebop. If you like “Winning” you will most likely enjoy the whole record which also includes “Searchin” and “The Sensitive Kind”.

You will probably also like '82’s Shango which has “Hold On”, "Nowhere To Run"and “What Does It Take”. The songs I’ve listed from each of these are not necessarily the best, just the ones I remember hearing on the radio when they were new. And there’s very little Spanish on any of these albums.

I’ve greatly simplified (part of) a long and complex career, but I think this will give you a good place to start. If you want more, Moonflower is a very good (and accessible) live album that nicely represents the years leading up to Inner Secrets. For an overview of the jazzier era, the live album Lotus is a good bet, but be warned, this is very different from the band that did “Winning”.

For video, I’d recommend Sacred Fire. Recorded live in Mexico City in 1993, it is a legendary musician with a great band playing his audiences’ favorite songs at the top of his game. (Okay, have I gone too far? Tell me after you’ve seen it for yourself.) The CD of the same name was recorded on the same tour, but throughout South America. It contains a slightly different song list, but is just as tasty as the video. If you could absolutely have only one Santana CD (a tragedy in my world) Sacred Fire is probably the one to have, but it misses the whole point of your original questions.

Santana has always held a special place in my heart (does it show?). The first time I ever understood what music could do emotionally, was while listening to “Incident At Neshabur” from Abraxas. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I was about thirteen years old and my fate was sealed. (I’ve been a happily frustrated musician ever since. I’m now fifty.)

I hope this is helpful and leads you to music you’ll love as much as I do.

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well said

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I’m always amazed when folks with low post counts come out of the wood work. DfrntBreign I think that was possibly the best, most thorough answer I could have gotten. You managed to answer a few more questions I hadn’t asked but should have. I’m guessing you are a fan.

It’s answers like that that separate SDMB from Google. Thank you very much.

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Just another post to acknowledge **DB’s **thoughts. Always fun to get his contributions when music threads get geeky.

**DB **- what thoughts do you have about Santana’s worship of Peter Green, the original guitarist and founder of Fleetwood Mac? I typically assert that Green laid the blueprint for Santana’s style (as well as wrote Black Magic Woman, covered by Santana) - but I am coming at this from a Peter Green perspective…how do you, as a Santana guy, regard that POV?

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Thank you Auntbeast (and outlierrn and WordMan) for your kind words. It’s rare that I get the chance to be so self-indulgent and still have it appreciated. And yeah, I consider myself a big Santana fan (lifetime fan club member and everything) although he’s hardly my only musical interest.

And hi WordMan. Fancy seeing you in a thread like this. :slight_smile:
You make a really good point about how influential Peter Green has been on Santana’s style. That earliest Fleetwood Mac is still kinda new to me, but now that you point it out the influence is pretty clear. (I’ve not really ever given it much thought before now, but when Carlos mentioned Peter Green as an influence, I took it to mean his spiritual quest rather than his music. Not implausable, but yours makes more sense.)

Carlos has always been quick to give credit to his influences and Peter Green is almost always mentioned along with Jimi and Miles (and Django and Coltrane and Gabor Szabo and Jesus and whoever else he can remember at the moment). He usually cites his dad as being his earliest influence followed by a Who’s Who of blues and mid 60’s Bay Area musicians and continuing through today. It’s obvious he loves music and is willing to learn from any kind of music he can. I think that’s a big part of why I’m still interested in hearing just about anything he cares to put out. (Although I’ll be the first to admit some experiments work out better than others.)

I also wonder (even though you didn’t ask) if his recent trend of working with younger musicians isn’t his way of emulating something he respected Miles Davis for doing. Miles was kinda famous for bringing along the new kids and giving them the opportunity to make a career in music. It worked out pretty good for a lot of Miles’ alumni. Although I don’t know how much help Dave Matthews or that Steven Tyler fellow need.

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Does anybody else think Carlos shows a Mark Knopfler influence in that tune ?

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Just a quick plug for one of my Desert Island albums, which he did with John McLaughlin: Love Devotion Surrender. Amazing stuff.

And DfrntBreign – I’ve only heard Santana perform once – it was a free acoustic solo concert he did in a classroom at UC Santa Barbara in the mid '70s. There were maybe 50 people in the audience. Phenomenal.

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**DB ** - what you way makes sense, in terms of how Santana sees his influences and his approach to working with younger players in his band. I would differentiate that from projects like his Supernatural album, where Clive Davis paired him up with other popular musicians and struck gold; that was shrewd marketing that really paid off.

As for Peter Green, yeah, I think there is something pure and simple about how Santana is influenced from a pure playing standpoint. I’ve said it a few times in other threads but if you can listen to The Super-Natural off of A Hard Road by Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, you can really hear what touched Santana…