Is well aware of the journey that “Smooth,” his 1999 collaboration with, has taken during the past two decades. “It went through the, ‘Hey, this is a good, cool summer jam,’ and then the, ‘Hey, we’re all sick of this song and never want to hear it again,’” he says. “And then it went through the, ‘Hey, let’s listen to that song again. I remember it.
That sounds good still!’”It’s easy to forget that 20 years ago, when cross-genre alliances weren’t in vogue, the very idea of “Smooth” seemed absurd. Pair up a classic-rock veteran who’d long been hitless with a singer who was both 25 years younger and affiliated with a very different style of rock? Add in a song whose lyrics and melody had to be overhauled, potential record-company legal hurdles, and an argument-starting vocal effect? On paper, nothing seemed more like a potential train wreck than “Smooth.”But, of course, that’s not how things turned out.
Part Latin-rock jam, part devotional love song (with a nod to Elton John’s “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”) and propelled by ’s scalding lead guitar parts, the track would go on to become the second biggest-selling single of all time, after Chubby Checker’s “The Twist.” “Smooth” was one of the last across-the-board, all-ages-allowed pop sensations, and its popularity didn’t end with the Nineties. It remains a best-selling stream, is regularly heard at weddings and has inspired multiple memes around Thomas’ opening line (“Man, it’s a hot one ”).
RelatedIn honor of its 20th anniversary, we look back at the creation and legacy of “Smooth” with its leading participants — who made it real and made sure we didn’t forget about it.I. Santana Longs for a Return to RadioBy 1997, a time when boy bands and Britney were beginning their domination of the charts and radio, Carlos Santana was barely on anyone’s radar. He still had a major-label deal, with PolyGram, but hadn’t scored a hit single in more than 15 years. Chart success still weighed on him, though, and when he and his band played New York’s Radio City Music Hall in July 1997, he invited.
The Arista Records president had signed Santana to his first deal, on Columbia Records, in the late Sixties, and the two had worked together during Santana’s heyday, when the guitarist and his band lived large with hits like “Black Magic Woman,” “Evil Ways” and “Oye Como Va.”Clive Davis (currently chief creative officer at Sony Music): We really had not interacted for many, many years, and he asked if I would come to Radio City to see him perform there. I thought it would be great to see him again. If you worked with someone closely, they were part of your life every day, and even if you sort of changed jobs, the connection is still there. So the idea of going to see him was emotionally appealing to me. We had shared some spectacular times many years earlier.Santana: When I would get in the car with my kids and we’d hear Eric Clapton and Babyface, they were like, “We only hear you very little on the radio, and that’s with ‘Black Magic Woman.’”Davis: When I talked with him later, he said that his kids, who were then teenagers, never really heard him on the radio. He said that he was asked who was he most in touch with from those days when he was on the radio and he said me.
He was asked, “When was the last time that you saw Clive Davis?” and said, “Many, many years ago.” He said to me, “That is what triggered my call to you to come see me at Radio City.” He said, there, “Would you have any interest in working with me again?”Santana: I was in the process of getting out of my contract with PolyGram. I said to my brother Chris Blackwell, “I’m pregnant with a masterpiece and I don’t want to give it to you because I don’t think you have the capacity to deal with this baby. And I know you are going to let me go.’” He said, “ Oh,” and that was it. Pete Ganbarg (then A&R executive at Arista, currently president of A&R at Atlantic): Carlos’s wife at the time, Deborah, said, “OK, Carlos, you need to now have commercial success again with your music, and why don’t we go to Clive, because Clive was where it all started? Ganbarg: The intention was to have commercial success, but nobody knew specifically how to do it. I got there in October ’97 as the new A&R guy, really trying to find something to do, because I didn’t have any artists I was signing.
I personally took Clive’s Santana signing as a challenge. There was a B.B. King album out in ’97 called Deuces Wild, a duets album with artists like D’Angelo, Bonnie Raitt and Tracy Chapman. Because I’m a chart junkie, I noticed it was selling better than a B.B.
King record should be selling. I went out and I got the record, and I’m like, “Wow, great concept, flawed execution,” because the songs weren’t great.But I thought, “Let’s take the same concept and apply it to Santana. Let’s do the research.” I was literally looking for every magazine article I could find where somebody mentioned they grew up with Santana. I called Carlos’ manager at the time and pitched the idea. He took it to Carlos, and Carlos was like, “Cool.”II.
Carlos Santana Ft Rob Thomas Smooth Mp3 Download
“Smooth” Takes ShapeDuring the next year, Davis and Ganbarg hooked Santana up with a wide range of current pop acts, including Lauryn Hill, Dave Matthews, Everlast and Eric Clapton. But after all those sessions, the album was still missing an obvious first single, and an immediate solution had to be found.Ganbarg: Around a year and a half later, January of ’99, I get a knock on my door from Clive’s finance guy, who says, “We need to finish this album you’ve been spending way too much money on.
It’s like your personal sandbox here. You need to come out of the sandbox.
We got to put this out. Time’s up.” I said, “I’m not done.” He’s like, “No, you are done.” I said, “I don’t think I have a first single.” He said, “I don’t care — you’re done.” I knew I had maybe a few weeks to finish, but I still had this gnawing concern that we didn’t have a first single. I was honestly stumped, because I called everybody on our list.Then out of the blue, Gerry Griffith legendary A&R executive at Arista said, “Are you still working on that Santana album?” I said, “Yeah, but I think I still need one song.” He’s like, “Oh, well, I may be representing this new songwriter, and he has an idea he’s writing that he thinks could be great for Santana. Can I introduce you two?” That was Itaal Shur.Itaal Shur: I’d already worked with Maxwell and had a pretty good above-ground hit with him with “Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder).” Gerry alerted me that Santana was looking for some material. I was able to get in the room with Pete Ganbarg, who played me the songs with Dave Matthews, Everlast and Lauryn Hill. I grew up listening to Santana with my older brother, and there was no song in there that had the “Black Magic Woman” or “Oye Como Va” groove. So it was obvious that I would write that type of song.
I went back and wrote a song called “Room 17.” I started off intentionally trying to get that “Black Magic Woman”/”Oye Como Va” beat. I programmed the beat, used my keyboard and stuff for everything. I played guitar on the demo. Ganbarg: Itaal came in a little cocky, like, “I’ve got the hit song you’ve been waiting for.” We play the tape, and at the end of the song I say to him, “Look, good news, bad news. The good news is I really, really, really like the music. It’s kind of a modern take on classic Santana, but I think your lyric is completely wrong.” “Room 17” was the room in the hotel where the groupie was going to meet the artist after the show.
I said, “If you know anything about Carlos Santana, he will never be associated with a song like this.”Shur: No, it wasn’t about a groupie. It’s about this guy and girl who haven’t seen each other for a long time, and they’re both in relationships so they’re going to have this rendezvous in room 17. It was just a way of having a secret meeting to express their love. It was a fabricated story.
I literally had a weekend to come up with something.Ganbarg: He’s like, “This song’s a hit as-is.” I said, “It isn’t.” We were like two six-year-olds yelling at each other.