Talk:Black Magic Woman

Improvements and new sections?
I expanded the article a bit, but most of my expansions related to the musical structure of the song. Maybe someone could add something about its history, recording, etc.? Also, the Fleetwood Mac version need definite expansion in all areas. -- Ci e lomobile talk / contribs 21:46, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Sisters of the Moon may be in homage to this song. I am not sure if it is in any mac interviews, but maybe no one ever asked! (february 2012) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.75.217.50 (talk) 15:12, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Snowy White version
I'm not sure this version warrants its own section...maybe mention in the lead, but it seems like just a cover of the song to me. -- Ci e lomobile talk / contribs 19:41, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Blackmagicitaly.jpg
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BetacommandBot (talk) 06:40, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

structure
Regarding the structure part of the article, you can't have a song in the "key" of a mode. Dorian is a mode. Judging by the chords, its either in F major or D minor. It might use the dorian mode over that first chord, but that still doesn't mean its 'in' D dorian. So I'm changing it. Please wikipedia, don't block my IP. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.175.42.210 (talk) 09:22, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

translated
17 february 2010 y. "Black Magic Woman" song was translated on russian language for Santana structure. The translate text was published on russian site stihi.ru of national poetry. Read english and russian text can http://stihi.ru/2010/02/17/7092 Song was played, recorded and compress in mp3 format on personal computer. Download russian version of "Black Magic Woman" from http://itshell.com/med/BlackMagicWoman-128.mp3 free. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.51.49.182 (talk) 23:39, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Influences on "Black Magic Woman"
I don't know if I'm alone with this opinion, but the Fleetwood Mac version reminds me of two earlier blues classics, "All Your Love" by Otis Rush (especially the rhythm change) and "Who's Been Talking" by Howlin' Wolf (the rhythm). --82.113.121.183 (talk) 15:08, 6 November 2013 (UTC)
 * If someone (maybe you) eventually finds some sources showing they were influences on Black Magic Woman, we can add it to the article. 135.0.167.2 (talk) 23:20, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

All three of those songs are set to a rhumba beat and are in minor keys, but so are lots of songs. Who's Been Talking and All Your Love are both blues progressions (All Your Love has a bridge that modulates to a major key), but Black Magic Woman isn't. The lyrics of all three also have completely different subject matter. So except in the loosest sense of Howlin' Wolf and Otis Rush (especially Otis Rush) being influences on Peter Green, I don't think there's much of a case that Black Magic Woman is derived from or particularly influenced by either All Your Love or Who's Been Talking. The most similar song to Black Magic Woman I can think of is "Help the Poor" by B.B. King (Rhumba, minor key, similar, though not identical, chord progression. If I  were to guess, I'd say that's the vibe Green was going for.

--Psychlist (talk) 15:52, 30 December 2013 (UTC)


 * I think The Super-Natural, Green's instrumental for A Hard Road has much in common with Black Magic Woman. It may be a 16 bar pattern but they have near identical changes and the Dm C Bb from the 'lost'bars of Super-Natural reappears at the end of BMW. Stub Mandrel (talk) 11:02, 31 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm listening to A Hard Road at the moment and had the same thought, The Super-Natural feels like Green's seed for Black Magic Woman. Stevensims (talk) 04:42, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Santana's ending
There is no mention in the article of the ending of Santana's original album version (Abraxas) with crescendoing feedback that abruptly ends, immediately leading into Oye Como Va. This (to me at least) is a rather distinct attribute of Santana's original version, and one that is often omitted in other versions (e.g., their Greatest Hits album). — Loadmaster (talk) 22:14, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Fleetwood Mac version
Does anybody know what the sound effect is on the intro to Fleetwood Mac's version or how it was achieved? The sound I'm referring to is the bell-like sound that you hear at the start of the song, seguing into the organ, before Peter Green starts to sing and I don't know if Mick Fleetwood or somebody else created that sound?

I know that it's well-documented that Jeremy Spencer was uninterested in playing on Peter Green's songs, but in the article it says that there are two guitars, so either both Peter and Jeremy played together or Peter overdubbed the second guitar part, because AFAIK, Danny Kirwan wasn't in the band yet when it was recorded.

61.69.217.3 (talk) 03:18, 20 December 2017 (UTC)