General Music Chat

I was listening to a local classic rock station the other day. After playing a Santana song the DJ announced that the song was "Oi Como Vah."

Maybe that was the Jewish version.

Don't worry, they will be pronouncing it correctly in a few years when a third of the U.S. is Hispanic.

BTW, it's not really a Santana song anyway.

I didn't know that. Whose is it?

Tito Puente, 1963.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oye_Como_Va

Thanks, jimmy. That makes sense.

Actually, that Wiki article is incorrect. The song was written by a guy named Rico Reyes. I used to live next door to him in California, and saw the royalty checks for the publishing.

So if that is true, he wrote it before 1963. Why no credit on either Santana's or Puente's albums? Not saying you're full of it, you just need to provide a little more proof than "I lived next door to him".

I don't have to 'prove' anything. You can believe what you choose. Publishing credits are not always what they seem. Reyes wrote several songs for Santana, he didn't receive credit. He did receive the checks though.

After a thorough search, I see that he was credited with the vocals and congas on the track but not the songwriting. Puentes wrote it.

http://www.superiorpics.com/santana/

You are probably correct. The checks I saw could have been for performance royalties. It was 40 years ago. I'm surprised that I can still remember Rico's name!

No worries. I knew it wasn't Greg Rollie or Carlos singing it so I learned something too.