BMW Comparison
 

This is a review of Abraxas which talks about FM's BMW and Santana's

http://www.kinston.com/entertainment...gentleman.html

The big radio hit from the album was "Black Magic Woman", a song originally done by Peter Green's version of Fleetwood Mac. While Santana's reading does not eclipse the original, it does match it. Mick Fleetwood's barrelhouse drums are replaced with a simmering stew of percussion that eventually boils over when the song kicks into high gear. Santana pays homage to the original guitar parts, but the sheer originality of his playing oozes in every second of this recording.

http://halfhearteddude.blogspot.com/...als-vol-1.html

Fleetwood Mac - Black Magic Woman.mp3

Santana - Back Magic Woman.mp3

From Fleetwood Mac's 1968 debut album, Black magic Woman is "three minutes of sustain/reverb guitar with two exquisite solos from Peter [Green]," according to Mick Fleetwood. Carlos Santana covered it on 1970's Abraxas album and retained its basic structure and clearly drug-induced vibe, but changed the arrangement significantly with a shot of Latin and hint of fusion, and borrowing from jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo's Gypsy Queen. It became one of Santana's signature tunes, while Fleetwood Mac had to remind audiences that the song was actually theirs. The vocals on the Santana version are by Greg Rolie, who later co-founded Journey. And the who is this Black Magic Woman? According to legend, it was a BMW of that colour which the non-materialist Green fancied.

Also covered by: Dennis Brown, Mina, the Go Getters
Best version: Santana's, especially for the use of the congas

I love both versions and was long familiar with Santana's before the Mac's. However, I do prefer Green's 1968 version more. It's starker, eerier, and more primal. The Santana version boasts a top-notch production and smooth sophistication: one can almost see the steam rising from the instruments as they work through the tropical arrangement. But Mac's version is authoritative in the way Johnny Cash's "Walk the Line" is--despite impressive cover versions.

Not according to Martin Celmins' bio of Peter - he very clearly makes the case that the inspiration was Peter's long-time late '60s girlfriend, Sandra Elsdon-Vigon (who, among other things, played recorder on Part 2 of "Oh Well" and was no doubt the inspiration for Peter's song "Sandy Mary").

and was she a black magic-woman?

or was she a black-magic woman?

The lyric change in BMW
 

In the original BMW, Peter Green refers to "magic stick", which is another word for the male reproductive organ. I haven't heard the Santana version in a while, but I swear Greg Rolie sings "break out my magic sticks", as if he (Santana) didn't understand the original reference. Apparently Sandra Elsdon who was Green's girlfriend at the time, was a part of a hippie-esque cult that practiced abstinence. It doesn't take much to wonder where "Rattlesnake Shake" came from. :laugh: Of course Peter directs the song at poor Mick Fleetwood.

According to Mick's book, Green got quite a bit of "relief" on the road.

The lucky bastard:D

Nah, that song was sparked by a comment from Mick about how he coped with being on the road away from his girlfriend. So Mick is was the one handling the...snake. :lol:

BMW - not a car?
 

Also both Sandra Elsdon and Peter Green talks about the inspiration for BMW in the DVD "Peter Green - Man of the World". From that I think it is rather straightforward a Black Magic Woman - a sorceress of any colour (but in this case inspired by the consequences of Sandra Elsdons fling with the mystico-transcendental leading to a more down-to- earth rattlesnake shake approach) :woohoo:

Ms Moose