Released September 17, 2002 Recorded 2001 | Format CD, 7" Length 4:18 | |
B-side "Come to My World", "Curacion" Genre Pop
pop rock
adult contemporary | ||
"The Game of Love" is a song performed by Santana from the album Shaman by Santana. The vocal performance on the song is by Michelle Branch. It was composed by Gregg Alexander and Rick Nowels. The song was launched as single in 2002, and won a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals", as well as peaking at No. 5 in on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Contents
Background
The track had originally been recorded with a male vocalist but 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 first recruited Macy Gray to cut a replacement vocal: the version with Gray not being deemed satisfactory Michelle Branch was then invited to be the track's vocalist with Branch's rhythm guitar playing also added to the track. Branch would recall: "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, Carlos Santana then stating: "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."
Music video
The music video depicts Santana and Branch in an alley with heterosexual 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.
Track listing
- "The Game of Love" [radio mix] – Santana, Michelle Branch
- "Come to My World" – Santana
- "Curacion" (Sunlight on Water) – Santana
- "The Game of Love" [multimedia track] – Santana, Michelle Branch