Oye como va
by Santana
- 129
- BPM
- G major
- Key
- 9B
- Camelot
- 74
- Danceability
- 31
- Acousticness
Tito Puente recorded "Oye Cómo Va" with his orchestra in 1962 for Tico Records. He led it from the timbales. The lineup included Johnny Pacheco on flute and Gil López on piano, with Rudy Calzado as lead singer. It was arranged as a cha-cha-chá, with a repeated piano tumbao of block chords and a chorus singing the refrain that gives the song its name. The introduction and piano vamp are close to Israel "Cachao" López's 1957 mambo "Chanchullo", which Puente had recorded in 1959.
Santana put it on the 1970 album Abraxas, with a new arrangement. The band added electric guitar, Hammond B-3 organ and a rock drum kit, and dropped the brass. The guitar took over the flute melody. Organist Gregg Rolie used the Leslie effect with restraint. There are several guitar solos and an organ solo, all rooted in rock and blues.
It came out as a single in 1971 and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 11 on the Easy Listening survey and number 32 on the R&B chart. Puente said he was outraged to hear a rock band cover his song, until he got his first royalty check. Santana's recording went into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Oye como va runs at 129 BPM, the tempo of house, disco and most club dance music. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.86 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 465 ms. It is in G major, Camelot 9B, which shares its notes with E minor and mixes cleanly with C major and D major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.