Songoftheday 7/26/12 - Don't rush me just this once I want to make this moment last..

Santana - "Hold On"

from the album Shango (1982)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (two weeks)

Weeks in the top-40: 10

Today's Song of the Day is by the Latin fusion rock band Santana, who are led by the iconic guitarist Carlos Santana in the late 60s. They released their debut self-titled album in '69, after playing at Woodstock, and it gave them their first charting single with their first 7",  the instrumental "Jingo" (#56), and their first top-10 with their second, "Evil Ways". Santana's sophomore LP, Abraxas, scored the group their biggest hit of the 70s, "Black Magic Woman" in 1970, and was a #1 album in its own right. In fact, the group had six top-10 records in the 70s, but pop radio was rather cool to them, with only six top-40 singles in that time. They were much more a live jam and album rock radio act than hitmaker at that point.

A sign of Santana's transition into more mainstream music came in 1981, with the album Zebop! and the top-20 single "Winning", signalling a edited, more hook-laden musical style. Shango continued the trend, with the radio-friendly "Hold On" released as the first single, featuring lead singer Alex Ligertwood (who also sang "Winning")...

 "Hold On" not only made the top-20 on pop and rock radio, it made the top-40 of the adult contemporary (soft rock) chart.

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The song was a remake of a single by Canadian singer/songwriter Ian Thomas, who had a top-40 single up north with it the year before...

Santana would wait 17 years from "Hold On" to get another top-40 hit, but boy did he, with the one-two #1 punches of "Smooth" and "Maria Maria", reviving his career on the radio.

Up tomorrow: Cowboy poet ponders eternity.