The Game of Love (Santana song)

"The Game of Love" is a song by American rock band Santana from their 19th studio album, Shaman (2002). The vocal performance on the song is by Michelle Branch. It was composed by Gregg Alexander (as Alex Ander) and Rick Nowels. The song was released as a single on September 23, 2002, and won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Commercially, "The Game of Love" peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, becoming that ranking's most successful track of 2003. The song also reached the top 10 in Canada, New Zealand, and six European countries.

Background
The song had originally been recorded with New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander, but album producer Clive Davis felt a female voice would maximize the song's appeal and a recording of Santana performing "The Game of Love" with Tina Turner as vocalist was completed. When Turner declined to participate in making a video for the track, Davis recruited Macy Gray to record a replacement vocal. When Davis was not satisfied with that version, Michelle Branch was asked to record the song, with Branch's rhythm guitar playing also added to the track. Branch said, "It was the first time for me to sing somebody else's song. Usually I'm like: 'Oh I want it this way' and I'm in charge...I didn't meet [Carlos Santana at the recording session], I didn't know what was going on...It felt to me like wow it seems like there's so much at stake, I'm going to go in there and just sing my heart out and just cross my fingers."

The Tina Turner version of "The Game of Love" was issued on the 2007 retrospective Ultimate Santana. Santana said "There's only one Tina Turner...No one can hit a note like Tina Turner...I love Michelle [Branch] and she did a great interpretation of it. It's just that with all honor and respect to Michelle, there's the girl and there's the woman, and Michelle is unfolding into a woman...but it takes time to go from a girl into a woman."

Chart performance
"The Game of Love" peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending November 30, 2002. The song stayed on the charts for 37 weeks. The song became Branch's second top-10 hit, as well as her first-highest-peaking single, after "All You Wanted" and "Everywhere".

Music video
The music video depicts Santana and Branch in an alley with couples around them, each expressing their love for one another. The director was Paul Fedor and the video was filmed in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, with cameo appearances by Wesley Snipes, Helen Hunt and Jennifer Garner.

Track listings
US CD single
 * 1) "The Game of Love" (radio mix) – 4:18
 * 2) "The Game of Love" (instrumental) – 4:18

European CD and cassette single
 * 1) "The Game of Love" (radio mix) – 4:18
 * 2) "Come to My World" – 4:11

European and Australian maxi-CD single
 * 1) "The Game of Love" (radio mix) – 4:18
 * 2) "Come to My World" – 4:11
 * 3) "Curacion" – 4:47
 * 4) "The Game of Love" (video)

Credits and personnel
Credits are taken from the European CD single liner notes.

Studio
 * Mixed at Larrabee North Studios (North Hollywood, California, US)
 * Engineered at the Big Space (Santa Monica, California, US) and Fantasy Studios (Berkeley, California, US)

Personnel


 * Alex Ander – writing, production
 * Rick Nowels – writing, background vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards, production
 * Carlos Santana – lead guitar, horn arrangements, album production
 * Michelle Branch – lead vocals, background vocals
 * Andy Vargas – additional vocals
 * Tony Lindsay – additional vocals
 * Niki Haris – background vocals
 * Siedah Garrett – background vocals
 * Rusty Anderson – additional electric guitar
 * Chester Thompson – piano, organ
 * Benny Rietveld – bass
 * Brian Collier – drums
 * Wayne Rodrigues – drum programming
 * Raul Rekow – congas
 * Karl Perazzo – percussion
 * Louis Conte – additional percussion
 * Bill Ortiz – trumpet, horn arrangements
 * Julius Melendez – trumpet
 * Jeff Cressman – trombone, horn arrangements
 * Martin Wehner – trombone
 * Ben Conrad – engineering
 * Chris Garcia – engineering
 * Randy Wine – engineering
 * Greg Collins – engineering
 * Michael Rosen – engineering
 * Scott Holderby – engineering
 * Eddie Kramer – engineering
 * Tone – engineering
 * Kieron Menzies – engineering assistant
 * Alan Veucosovic – engineering assistant
 * Manny Marroquin – mixing
 * Kirstin Johnson – project coordination for Ander and Nowels
 * Robert Cappadona – project coordination for Ander and Nowels
 * Clive Davis – album production
 * Antonio "LA" Reid – executive production