THE BIG INTERVIEW Episode Number: 302 Episode Title: Carlos Santana Description: from Las Vegas, Dan Rather Catches up with Music Legend Carlos Santana

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THE BIG INTERVIEW Episode Number: 302 Episode Title: Carlos Santana Description: From Las Vegas, Dan Rather catches up with music legend Carlos Santana.

ACT 1

DAN RATHER (VOICE OVER)

WHEN IT COMES TO ROCK STARS, IT’S USUALLY THE LEAD SINGER WHO STEALS THE STAGE...BUT WHEN YOU PLAY GUITAR LIKE THIS...IT’S EASY TO SEE WHY THE SMOOTH AND SULTRY SOUNDS OF CARLOS SANTANA HAVE MADE HIM A SUPERSTAR...

Evil Ways BY CARLOS SANTANA (SOUND CLIP)

You’ve got to change your evil ways…

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

FROM HIS FIRST HIT SINGLE, EVIL WAYS IN 1969... TO HIS MEGA-HIT MARIA MARIA 3 DECADES LATER, CARLOS SANTANA TREASURES EACH AND EVERY ONE OF HIS SONGS...

SANTANA

Each one is my first French kiss. It’s that personal and that intimate. Each one. From the first note-- (SIGHING) and then there they go (SIGHING).

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

THE PASSIONATE… THE SPIRITUAL… THE UNIQUE CARLOS SANTANA… TONIGHT… ON THE BIG INTERVIEW.

ACT 2

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

THE RICH LATIN, BLUES AND JAZZ INFUSED SOUND OF CARLOS SANTANA IS UNMISTAKABLE…

BEFORE “WORLD MUSIC” WAS A CATEGORY OR “CROSSOVER ARTIST” WAS A TERM, CARLOS SANTANA’S UNIVERSAL APPEAL WAS OBVIOUS. TODAY THIS INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREATEST GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME....AND OVER 40 YEARS INTO HIS CAREER, HE’S STILL PUTTING OUT NEW SONGS AND BEING HONORED BY THE MUSIC WORLD.

YOU MIGHT SAY MUSIC IS INGRAINED IN CARLOS SANTANA. BORN IN THE SMALL TOWN OF AUTLAN, MEXICO, HE FOLLOWED IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HIS FATHER, GRANDFATHER AND GREAT-GRANDFATHER, PICKING UP INSTRUMENTS AT A YOUNG AGE. HE CUT HIS TEETH PLAYING GUITAR IN THE STRIP-CLUBS OF TIJUANA.

SANTANA

Oh, okay…

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

RECENTLY, HE RELEASED HIS CANDID AUTOBIOGRAPHY THE UNIVERSAL TONE. IN IT HE TALKS ABOUT SOME OF THE DARKEST PARTS OF HIS LIFE INCLUDING BEING SEXUALLY ABUSED BY AN AMERICAN MAN AS A CHILD… AND HIS DIVORCE FROM HIS WIFE OF 34 YEARS.

BUT THIS DEEPLY SPIRITUAL MUSICIAN ACKNOWLEDGES THERE’S MUCH MORE TO CELEBRATE THAN TO MOURN WHEN IT COMES TO LOOKING BACK ON HIS LIFE.

HIS FAMILY IMMIGRATED TO THE UNITED STATES WHEN SANTANA WAS A TEEN - LANDING HIM IN THE EPICENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO’S HIPPIE CULTURE. THE SPIRIT OF THE TIME MADE AN IMPACT ON HIS MUSIC AND HIS UNFORGETTABLE APPEARANCE AT WOODSTOCK CATAPULTED HIM INTO STARDOM.

SINCE THEN HE’S SOLD OVER 100 MILLION RECORDS... WON 10 GRAMMY AWARDS... 3 LATIN GRAMMYS... AND WAS INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME.

AND 4 YEARS AGO HE MARRIED THE WOMAN HE CALLS HIS “SOUL MATE,” ACCOMPLISHED DRUMMER, CINDY BLACKMAN.

WE MET UP WITH CARLOS SANTANA AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN LAS VEGAS. OUR CAMERAS WERE ALLOWED IN FOR A RARE GLIMPSE OF SOUND CHECK AS SANTANA AND HIS BAND PUT THE FINAL TOUCHES ON THEIR SHOW BEFORE OPENING NIGHT.

RATHER

Well, listen, I’ve been listening to you this afternoon and you’re terrific.

KEYBOARD PLAYER

Thank you. Thank you so much.

MANAGER

Dan, Carlos Santana

RATHER

How are you?

SANTANA

It’s an honor to meet you.

RATHER

Pleasure to meet you and thank you so much for doing this.

SANTANA

Thank you.

RATHER

I don't know how you do it. You play all afternoon, you play all night. (LAUGH) What--

SANTANA

Well, this is joy. You know, jo -- joy is not labor or anything like that or a job. It's-- it's-- more like an offering. You know? And the more you get into it from your heart the less you feel gravity and time and mischief or grief or anything like that. You know? Those things disappear.

RATHER

Well, I-- I read you. How do you get in the mindset to do that? You rehearse a great deal in the afternoon, work really hard and then you come back at night. How do you get your head up here on the stage to give it everything for the audience?

SANTANA

Well, thank you for asking that. You know, it-- it's-- there's two words that create a lot of energy. There's-- there's willingness to allow and allow willingness. I've been doin' this since I was a child and-- and-- and for-- for me this-- this is-- you take a deep breath and you trust that you can create thrust.

RATHER

And it works.

SANTANA

And it works. And then once we get our-- once we get chills from each other, then they're gonna get chills and then we're gonna make it memorable for them, because we're not into s-- we're not into disposable sound bytes. We-- we-- we like to make things memorable. You know? Think of the most memorable interview you ever done where-- where you go home and say, "Damn, that was great timing and great questions." There--

RATHER

This is gonna be one of 'em. (LAUGHTER)

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

WATCHING SANTANA AT SOUNDCHECK IT WAS CLEAR THAT WHILE HE HAS FUN MAKING MUSIC HE ALSO TAKES IT VERY SERIOUSLY...HE OFTEN STEPS IN TO WORK WITH MEMBERS OF HIS BAND TO GET THE SOUND HE’S LOOKING FOR EXACTLY RIGHT…

RATHER

By the way, I know something I want to ask. I've never seen you play the drums.

SANTANA

Oh yeah. You know, once in a while I--it's just for a point of reference that-- that I-- it's like a chef that-- that might ask the other chefs, "Put a little bit more oregano or onions," or somethin', you know? Because I just don't want things to sound bland and repetitious. I want it to constantly sound like-- you know, like your-- your first date and you're constantly touching and kissing and everything and it's always mounting. I want it to always mount. I want it to stay flat with sameness and predictable.

RATHER

Well, you talked about inspiring the audience. One of the things you want to do is inspire the audience. How do you stay inspired? You've done this thousands of times.

SANTANA

Yes. I-- you know, the best way to-- to-- to do one thing is to do the other and then you get this-- this thing. For example, it's impossible to be happy unless you are grateful first. So once-- once I started saying, “thank you for the shirt and thank you for the watch and thank you for my guitar and thank you for the food, thank you that the house is paid, thank you that people-- it sold out.

Thank…”-- you know, the more you started thinking gratitude, the bigger the smile gets-- because the opposite of gratitude is negative entitlement and when people give you everything, at that point it's not enough. So then-- then I don't wanna be that. I-- I rather say, "Go back to when you were five years old and they give you the first roll of tickets to go to Disneyland and-- and-- and take all (LAUGH) the rides for free." You know that kind of thing? You know? So it's-- it's-- it's--

RATHER

So this really strikes-- this resonates with me and I'll tell you why. My maternal grandmother, who lived a rural life in another age, was fond of saying-- and forgive her grammar, "We is above average blessed." You and I are above average blessed.

SANTANA

That's wonderful. I-- I totally relate to that. It-- it-- it-- it means you're very present and conscious with appreciation. You know, and-- and that for me is-- is-- and what keeps everything away from gravity or time or fear. Those are the three enemies of musicians. Gravity. You want it off the ground. Time. (MAKES NOISE) You know, you gotta get rid of the time. And-- when you go into that place where it-- it's just a juicy big now. You know? (LAUGH)

RATHER

And that's what we have here. A juicy big now.

SANTANA

A juicy big now.

(Da Le) Yaleo BY CARLOS SANTANA (SOUND CLIP)

Yaleo, yaleo, yaleo yaleo…

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

I’LL BE BACK WITH MORE OF MY INTERVIEW WITH CARLOS SANTANA IN JUST A MOMENT.

ACT 3

Tequila (The Champs Cover) BY CARLOS SANTANA (SOUND CLIP)

Tequila! Tequila primera gente...

RATHER

Well you're opening at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. And I'm reminded that originally the band was called Santana’s (CLUNKING)---Blues Band.

SANTANA Santana Blues Band. Uh-huh (AFFIRM).

RATHER

Were you the leader of that band?

SANTANA

No, at that time there was no leader. It was mainly-- we-- we were all kind of like an organ-- livin' organism. I think I became a leader because everything that happened led me to-- to say, "Someone has to be the spiritual adult of this situation and take-- as they say, take the bull by the horns or-- or take responsibility or something."

You know because after a while we are-- we all-- it-- it happens to all the bands. After a while-- other things became more important than the sacredness of the music. And-- and I-- and I was trying to-- as much as I could-- maintain diligence of consistency with honoring the music rather than the high of cocaine or this or that, you know? I wanted us not to be so distracted with the outside stimuli. 'Cause when you're inspired, man, you don't need none of that stuff.

RATHER

You know, this runs counter to what, from the outside at least, seems to be the-- the credo of many musicians. That you can't make really great music, you can't be really creative, without cocaine or heroin or peyote or something.

SANTANA

Well-- you can go with peyote, but the other ones are-- are-- see, there's a difference between medicine and drugs. Drugs humans make in a laboratory. Medicine mother nature makes and from the ground up.

And that won't hurt you. That will heal you with the right tea. The right things. You know? I think it's called photosynthesis. This beam of light gives this information to all these plants. What color. What flavor. What texture. What aroma to be. And when they dry and you-- you boil them and you drinkin', they know what organs to heal. Your liver or your kidneys. You know? So to me there's-- there's a sacred language that comes from a beam of light.

RATHER

I may wanna come back to this subject but--

SANTANA

Okay.

RATHER right now, I was asking you about playing the House of Blues. I've never been here before. What a terrific venue.

SANTANA

Yes. Yes, it's a -- I call it a laboratory.

RATHER

But-- and we were talking about it was first-- Santana's Blues Band. Do you still play the blues?

SANTANA

Absolutely. Every day. It's just in a different form.

RATHER

What is blues?

SANTANA

The blues is the essence of not whining or complaining or crying in your beer. It-- it ain't that. It's, like, sometimes I feel like a motherless child. You know? And all music without the blues, the food would taste like wet newspapers. They would have no flavor to it. The-- I'm not saying you have to suffer but you do have to feel deeply profound emotions. Blues is supreme emotions. If you don't have that, be a stenographer. Be a banker. Be a lawyer. Be something else-- but real musicians, you need emotions and blues so that people can believe that-- that their pain and your pain can be celebrated.

RATHER

In your opinion, present company excluded, greatest blues musician of all time?

SANTANA

Oh, lord have mercy. Well, that-- that is so subjective. I-- you know, if you ask-- like, for me right now it's still Buddy Guy and-- and-- and-- and Otis Rush. But each one will say, "Well, it's

Muddy Waters." And Muddy Waters will say, "Robert Johnson." And Robert Johnson (LAUGH) would say somebody else. But for me it-- it's still Miles Davis, you know, and John Coltrane. They-- they can-- they can play some serious, profound, intelligent, brilliant blues. Not-- not-- not just-- you know, not just little blues of (HUMMING) you know, and that. I mean that they-- their blues is like-- the Pacific Ocean and the Grand Canyon. It's very intelligent. Like Mozart. But it's got the blues. That's Miles and Coltrane.

RATHER

Greatest blues tune ever written? Ever sung? Ever played?

SANTANA

Oh. Well, see. I think it was Willie-- Willie Dixon who-- who did-- I Just Wanna Make Love To You. You know? 'Cause The Doors, Bo Diddley, my-- everybody covered that song. You know, there's certain songs that (CLUNKING) Led Zeppelin, everybody covered. And that's because they're so god bucket naked raw that anyone can understand it which is what you're supposed to do with music. Make people feel a collective commonality with your spirit and your heart.

RATHER

Who'll be in that crowd tonight? Who listens to your music? Who comes to live venues to hear you play?

SANTANA

A lot of-- a lot of people who are really thirsty for righteousness. Thirsty for-- what I call spiritual romance.

RATHER

Spiritual romance?

SANTANA

Spiritual romance. You know, it's not dirty and vulgar and weird. It-- it's-- it's like-- ahhhh - you know? Everyone needs spiritual romance. You know? Without that, I wouldn't wanna be on this planet at all. I would-- I would just check out really, really-- easy. You know? But there's

something about spiritual romance that-- that makes-- it glues everything in from the point of divine with the DNA.

RATHER

But I have to say, that for a lot of us sometimes we have to settle for lust. Spiritual romance would be wonderful. Sometimes you have to settle for less than that.

SANTANA

Not me. (LAUGH) I-- I-- I want Baskin Robbins, all the flavors. Ben and Jerry, all the flavors. I want all the ice cream stores, all the flavors, or honey, keep goin', 'cause I ain't gonna settle for just vanilla. (LAUGHTER)

RATHER

Candidly, ever get tired of just playing, you know, Black Magic Woman. Evil Ways. You know, your list of hits. Ever get tired of hittin'?

SANTANA

I never get tired of visiting them, because-- they're-- they're children. They're living children. And I-- it's like combing their hair for the first time after they took a shower or a bath and you have to be very careful not to make 'em cry and not to hurt them. So you have to really visit Black Magic Woman, Maria Maria. All-- you know, all the songs. They're living children for me. Each one is my first French kiss. It’s that personal and that intimate. Each one. From the first note-- (SIGHING) and then there they go (SIGHING). That's why they pay for the parking lot and the drinks and everything, man. 'Cause they want to feel connected with their passion.

RATHER

They do. And they also want to hear your play your distinctive sound. And it's marked by kind of a glass, smooth guitar sound.

SANTANA

Thank you so much.

RATHER

How did you come to that? How do you-- how do you accomplish that? How do you hold it?

SANTANA

You know, that-- that I don't take any credit from that. I think I was given that just-- just like a dolphin is a dolphin and a bird is a bird. I can only say, “Thank you, God” because-- in one note I'm able to express-- so many people that I love, you know, and-- and so many stories.

You have to be able to tell a story even in one note that people can say, "Ah, stop. I'll talk to you later. That speaks to me." You know? And--so I'm not in the business of anything. I am in the way of life of connecting with a language that you become like Bob Marley or Michael Jackson. You become frozen in time now, completely memorable.

RATHER

Well, I can give you some first person witness. My daughter Robin, who's now in her mid-50's. She still plays, I would say at least once or twice a week, and hums once or twice a week, Oye Como Va. Did you have a sense when you recorded that that it would be one of those tunes that people would remember for a lifetime?

SANTANA

Yes, I did. I absolutely did. Because I was really, really-- in altered states when I first heard it. And I knew that that song sounded like perpetual Friday and Saturday party time after school. (SNAPPING) Like, "Yeah." (LAUGH) Like, you know, it's like—

RATHER

Hey.

SANTANA

--"Oh hey." Forget about the rent. Forget about the this. We get-- at-- just-- just-- there's music that just makes you celebrate. And when you celebrate, fear has to go away and-- and all you have is delight.

Oye Como Va BY SANTANA (SOUND CLIP)

Oye como va, mi ritmo Bueno pa’ gozar, mulata

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

MORE WITH CARLOS SANTANA IN JUST A MOMENT

ACT 4

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

IT WAS THE OPENING NIGHT FOR CARLOS SANTANA’S MULTI-MONTH RUN AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN LAS VEGAS.

HE PLAYED TO AN INTIMATE, SOLD OUT CROWD...WOWING THEM WITH SOME OF HIS BIGGEST HITS.

SANTANA (and band) Oye como va, mi ritmo Bueno pa’ gozar, mulata

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

THE NEXT MORNING I SAT DOWN WITH SANTANA TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC.

RATHER Well, you know, you put so much into your performances. How do you come down from something like last night? I mean clearly you're all in. You-- you held nothing back. How long does it take you to come down? How do you come down? SANTANA It takes, like, about an hour and a half. And you read. You know, you-- now that I live here in Las Vegas-- I jump in the pool. I come down by also repetition. You know, chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo or the Ave Maria. Repetition creates a form of-- tranquility for your brain because your brain gets-- ecstatic a lot. So after energy like that you-- you need to go into, like a gentle arriving instead of, like, being like a robot hittin' everything-- everything on the walls. So I-- I-- I chant. I chant, “I am that I am.” (CLEARS THROAT) Excuse me. “I am that I am. I am the light. Gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude.” RATHER

Well, you mentioned to me in our conversation that you are a “reader of energy.” Let’s talk about that. SANTANA Yes, the other word that goes right with energy is symmetry. You know the symmetry of integrity. For example, integrity as energy has its own taste, its own smell, its own - its own look, its own sound. When people do something with a - with a high integrity, things change like a kaleidoscope really, really quick. Integrity is something that I wish we would introduce more in schools as a curriculum. You know, because when people have integrity, they become impeccable and when you become impeccable, you wouldn’t even need a contract ‘cause you’re gonna honor it. People have contracts because they’re afraid somebody’s not gonna honor it, but if you’re impeccable, you don’t need a contract ‘cause you know that person’s going to honor it. So energy to me that is in --- energy with integrity is elevating. RATHER I understand what you're saying. SANTANA Okay RATHER I do, I understand what you're saying but you must run across people who say some version of, "Listen, Carlos Santana. I love your music but when you talk that way about reading energy you may as well be speaking Swahili or High Norse." What do you say to them? SANTANA I say, "Well, you may wanna expand your vocabulary when it comes to making the invisible realm tangible to you. You know, 'cause everything is built with imagination. Someone had the imagination to see things-- outside of what everybody was seeing and they gave 'em hell for it because that person said, "The world is round." And they said, "You're crazy. It's flat." You know? I think imagination is like a muscle that must be developed-- must be developed. RATHER Well, you've certainly developed yours. SANTANA (LAUGHTER) Thank you. RATHER You've certainly developed yours. Well, since you’ve touched a little on your biography, let’s start from the beginning. You came to this country at what age? SANTANA

1963. So I was, like-- well, 14, 16? RATHER Well, tell me about-- SANTANA Fifteen. RATHER --tell me about those first days. SANTANA At first it was a drag, you know, because I grew up in Tijuana in strip joints. So to me that was like, (MAKES NOISE) "Can anything better-- be better than this?" You know? For education. You know? In music and then also in-- how women walk, how women seduce or how women just-- you know, there's a reason peop-- men say, "Oh my god." You know? Women have a lot of power. And the way I grew up in Tijuana-- the way they walk and everything was very, very conducive to how I articulate sassiness, conviction. You know-- “shoot, I got this and you need this.” You know? It's almost like they have to be really self assured that, "I got somethin', you know, the way I walk and-- and don't mess me up, drummer. You know, when I'm walkin'--" (SNAPPING) (HUMMING) you know? A lot of the music from Thelonious Monk, it's almost like strip joint music. (HUMMING) Do you know with the-- everything. You know? So to me, bein' a kid, growin' up in-- in-- in a strip joint in Tijuana, that was better than any Circle Du Soliel I ever been to. You know? RATHER (VOICE OVER) CARLOS SANTANA AND HIS FAMILY LEFT MEXICO AND STARTED A NEW LIFE IN SAN FRANCISCO IN THE EARLY-1960S. THE CITY WAS THE EPICENTER OF A FLOURISHING HIPPIE CULTURE --- PEACE, LOVE AND MUSIC PREVAILED. AS A YOUNG BOY, CARLOS HAD STUDIED BOTH THE VIOLIN AND THE GUITAR, AND DECIDED TO PURSUE MUSIC AS A CAREER IN HIS NEW HOME. SANTANA GOT HIS BIG CHANCE WHEN A GUITARIST AT THE FAMED FILLMORE WEST WAS TOO DRUNK TO PERFORM AND A 19-YEAR-OLD CARLOS SANTANA WAS CALLED ON TO FILL IN, IMPRESSING EVERYONE WITH HIS FORMIDABLE GUITAR PLAYING. HE FORMED A BAND WITH A FEW OTHER STREET MUSICIANS AND QUICKLY DEVELOPED A FOLLOWING IN THE SAN FRANCISCO CLUB SCENE. BUT HE AND THE REST OF THE SANTANA BLUES BAND WERE STILL VIRTUAL UNKNOWNS WHEN THEY FIRST STEPPED ONSTAGE AT ONE OF THE MOST LEGENDARY CONCERTS OF ALL TIME: WOODSTOCK. RATHER Well, fair to say your breakout performance was at Woodstock.

SANTANA Yes, absolutely. RATHER Transport us back to that time in Woodstock. Tell us what happened and how-- what you were feeling at the time. SANTANA When we flew in in this helicopter, this Army helicopter, green helicopter-- that the-- the Army- - Army people were using because everything else was a disaster area. There was no way to get in there. The freeways were all-- you know, blocked. And then I saw this living organism, like an ocean of people, hair and colors and-- I was like, "Whoa. Look at it." You know? And you could hear (MAKES CROWD NOISE). You know? For me it felt like if you were with Jesus when he was feeding people with bread and fish. You know? And it was a congregation of a bunch of people who felt that we-- we didn't know it, but we felt that we had the power by being united to stop Vietnam. To protest in universities. To, along with the Blank Panthers or the Lourdes Huerta, Cesar Chavez, we could change the system. You know? The-- the-- the songs they were, like, support system. Like-- like-- as-- as Bob Dylan used to say, notes are more important than bullets. All these songs create this, "Yes, we can." RATHER (VOICE OVER)

AND OF COURSE IT WAS COMMON TO EXPRESS THAT BELIEF THROUGH DRUGS -- WHICH WERE NOT AT ALL HARD TO FIND AT WOODSTOCK.

SANTANA RECALLED RUNNING INTO THE GRATEFUL DEAD’S JERRY GARCIA SHORTLY AFTER CHOPPERING IN. THINKING THAT HE HAD AT LEAST 7 HOURS TO KILL BEFORE HE WENT ON STAGE, SANTANA SAID HE ACCEPTED GARCIA’S OFFER TO DO A LITTLE MIND-ALTERING.

BUT IN THE CHAOS OF THE CONCERT’S EVER SHIFTING SCHEDULE, DUE TO TRAFFIC JAMS AND RAINY WEATHER, SANTANA SOON LEARNED HE WOULD BE PERFORMING MUCH EARLIER THAN HE EXPECTED...

SANTANA I took it and then all of a sudden as soon as (SLAPPING) I came on. Bam. You know, just-- there's a face saying, "You need to go on now otherwise you're not gonna play." And I'm like, "Oh, lord." Everything becomes really, like, colors, amoeba, you know, everything is like, "Oh dang."

And then I see the crowd and the band is lookin' at me like, "Man, you know, don't-- you-- you- -" so I go on-- on the stage. It-- it-- I don't even know how I-- walked and next thing I know I-- I-- I-- we're-- we're playing this-- this set. And I think I'm going by what Shirley MacLaine calls muscle memory and I'm-- and-- and I'm-- but-- but when we got to Soul Sacrifice-- I noticed that the neck of my guitar was like an electric snake. It would-- it wouldn't stand still. You know, I was like-- you know? So I'm makin' some seriously ugly faces. Anyway. To try to keep it from-- from-- squir-- slithering so much. You know?

RATHER What was the stuff? Are you talkin' about marijuana? Are you talkin' about cocaine? Are you talkin' about heroin--? SANTANA No, no, no, no. No cocaine. Never. Or heroin. Never. It was-- it was probably psilocybin, which is another word for mescaline or peyote or ayowasca. RATHER But whatever it was, it-- it hit you hard and lasted a long time? SANTANA Yeah. I wish I could a hold of some more right now. (LAUGH) RATHER Please. I don't want the police in here.

RATHER (VOICE OVER) DESPITE THE DRUGS, THE SANTANA SET AT WOODSTOCK WAS LEGENDARY. WHEN THE FILM OF THE CONCERT WAS RELEASED THE FOLLOWING YEAR, SANTANA WAS THRILLED TO LEARN THAT ONE OF THE GREATEST GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME, JIMI HENDRIX, WHO CLOSED THE 3 DAY FESTIVAL AT WOODSTOCK WITH A BLISTERING SET OF HIS OWN, CALLED SANTANA HIS FAVORITE PERFORMANCE OF THE EVENT. IT WAS A HUMBLING MOMENT FOR CARLOS SANTANA TO LEARN THAT HIS IDOL HAD BECOME HIS FAN. SANTANA Jimi Hendrix was like a Da Vinci. Leonardo Da Vinci of-- electric music, because he opened the amplifier so wide that after a while you get beyond the -- it was loud. It was painfully loud. But he knew how to paint with a different canvas. I think that out of all the musicians that I ever heard, only Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix, they-- they literally sound like they-- they-- like this.

Like-- they-- they wait for a lighting-- a lightning to-- and they (BOOM NOISE) and they grab it and they go (MAKES NOISE). And there's that note that's goin' like that much. (MAKES NOISE). And then they tell the note, "Stay there. You will sustain until I tell you, so stay there." And Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix are the only musicians with electric guitar that I know them to will the guitar to do what they want 'em to do as long as they want them to do it. And I was like, excuse the expression, "Holy shit. How do they do that?" RATHER So you hit it big, very big after Woodstock. The world-- SANTANA Yes. RATHER --opened up to you. What did that do to you as a person? Did you get deep into liquor? Did you get deep into drugs? SANTANA I got deep into depression. The more money we made and the more number one’s we had on the radio or – or – in the charts – I thought I was losing my mind. I was becoming more and more depressed. After a while the adulation that the world gives you-- can become very, very-- heavy on you. You know, all of a sudden like you're so-- you're supposed to be this and you're supposed to be that. And-- and I'm like, "Man, I don't-- I just want to practice and make the music genuine, honest, sincere, true, for real and authentic. Make it true." You know? RATHER (VOICE OVER) THERE’S MORE WITH CARLOS SANTANA STRAIGHT AHEAD, SO STAY HERE WITH US.

ACT 5 SINGER FROM CONCERT You’re all about to get down to the sounds of Carlos Santana!!! SANTANA (and band) Oh Maria, Maria She reminds me of a west side story Growing up in Spanish Harlem

She’s living the life just like a movie star Maria, Maria…. RATHER I'm gonna move to music. How would you describe your music? SANTANA Oh. My music is delicious, anytime. My music -- is sacred and sexy. Like The Doors. They're sacred and sexy, The Doors. RATHER Well, fair to describe it as Latin music, quote, unquote? SANTANA Well, you know, I don't deny being Latin, whatever that is, even though I don't speak (UNINTEL) saecula saeculorum. I don't speak Latin. You know? But they-- they give us this name in Hollywood. "Oh, Latin lover." Like Cesar Romero and Antony Quinn and Fernando Lamas and Ricardo Montalban - “They must be Latin lovers." Like, "Okay." You know?" I can be all of those and none of those at the same time. What I am is a musician who articulates 99.9 African music. RATHER African music? SANTANA African music. That's what I play. African music. Whether it's blues or-- cha cha cha, mambo, rumba-- shuffle, huaracha, bossanova-- you know, I can give you all the names, but they-- all those songs, all those rhythms and everything comes from Africa. SANTANA (and band) Vamos caminando el ise Tomando vino y partiendo pan Ella dijo dame, dame ya Yaleo Yaleo Yaleo Yaleo Yaleo RATHER (VOICE OVER)

SANTANA’S MUSIC HAS NEVER BEEN EASY TO CATEGORIZE. HE HAS ALWAYS RESISTED THE TYPICAL 3-MINUTE EASILY DIGESTIBLE RADIO HITS, INSTEAD OPTING TO LET HIS PERSONAL PREFERENCE FOR JAZZ AND BLUES DRIVE HIS MUSICAL CHOICES. THE RENOWNED RECORD PRODUCER, CLIVE DAVIS, WHO WORKED CLOSELY WITH SANTANA OVER THE YEARS, REPEATEDLY WARNED HIM OF THE RISKS OF BEING SUCH A MUSICAL PURIST. SANTANA And that was the problem, too -- my friend-- my best friend and brother, Clive, would say-- Clive Davis would say, "You're doin' career suicide. There's not one single within a thousand miles of here. You know, what are you doin'?" You know? I think I-- I needed to-- what I call letting the hamster out of the cage. RATHER What does that mean? SANTANA Letting the hamster out of the cage mean playing music that's beyond the realm of radio. Kind of like long soundtracks-- that-- it-- they-- almost like they use them for-- in movies. RATHER Well, is it true-- and I've written this down, that at one point you turn-- were turned down by five record companies because, in their words, you weren't making radio-friendly records. SANTANA This is true, but where are they now? RATHER Ah. And where are you? SANTANA Uh-huh (AFFIRM). (LAUGH) So-- you know, I-- I-- I-- I had the chance to say to at least one of them, who was very, very arrogant. I said, "Look, man. There's only two kinds of people, artists and con artists, I know who I am." And that's all you need to say. You can't find that person maybe even in the yellow book right now. (LAUGHTER) You know, so-- some people bleed when they hear my name ‘cause I’m not nice sometimes. I should be more nice now and say, “God bless you and I hope you, you know, with the talent that you have, you can do it again.” I know I will, you know, by the grace of God. RATHER Music has changed. The music business has changed. What's been the biggest change in music over the four decades that you've been involved with it?

SANTANA There's more shuck and jive now than ever before. Back then in the '60s, we didn't even know what lip synching was. We didn't even know what sampling was. But today it's easier for people to get away with shuckin' and jiving or faking-- you know, that you know music. You know, as soon as you unplug the-- the-- the turntable and all that kind of stuff, they're done. The first thing that I would teach the new youngsters about music is, like, "Don't touch the guitar yet. Just look at it. Look at it. Can you hear the sound just by looking at it?" One. And two, most important-- actually, one. "Can you give yourself chills before you touch the guitar?" If you can't, be and do somethin' else. 'Cause this is a way of life. Not a business. You're giving birth to beauty when you play. You know? So give yourself chills. Otherwise, you might as well just be a mechanic dealing with screwdrivers and hammers. You know? RATHER You're well known for being generous with other musicians. Musicians who work with you. Musicians who come to you and ask for advice or counsel. Do you ever find yourself somewhere deep within yourself saying, "Be careful, if I teach them too much, they'll supplant me. They’ll overcome me. They'll-- they'll make me irrelevant?" SANTANA No. That's impossible. I got what I got and you can't get what I got. You gotta get your own. And you-- you might get a little close, but you ain't never in this lifetime gonna get what I got. You know? So I'm not insecure about that. I-- in fact I'll say, you know-- "You may wanna try not using so many pedals because it's like putting too much makeup and people won't see your real face. This is your face, man. Just plug into the amplifier and be-- and trust that this is the sound." RATHER (VOICE OVER)

SANTANA PUT HIS TRUST INTO THE TALENTS OF OTHER, OFTEN YOUNGER MUSICAL ARTISTS WHEN HE PUT TOGETHER THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ALBUM OF HIS CAREER: 1999’S MEGA-HIT SUPERNATURAL. SANTANA AND ROB THOMAS Man, it’s a hot one Like seven inches from the midday sun Well, I hear you whispering the words... RATHER (VOICE OVER)

THE SONG SMOOTH WITH MATCHBOX TWENTY’S ROB THOMAS SPENT 12 WEEKS AT NUMBER ONE. THAT WAS JUST ONE OF SEVERAL COLLABORATIONS WITH MUSICIANS THAT RANGED FROM ERIC CLAPTON TO LAURYN HILL.

SUPERNATURAL WAS A MAJOR COMEBACK FOR SANTANA...RELEASED 18 YEARS AFTER HIS LAST PLATINUM ALBUM...AND AFTER HE WAS INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME.

SUPERNATURAL SOLD OVER 30 MILLION COPIES AND EARNED HIM A WHOPPING 9 GRAMMY AWARDS INCLUDING ALBUM OF THE YEAR. HE’S HOPING LIGHTNING WILL STRIKE TWICE WITH HIS LATEST ALBUM CORAZON… SANTANA (featuring LILA DOWNS, NINA PASTORI & SOLEDAD) Cuanto tiempo va a durarme El delirio del romance Cuantas horas... RATHER (VOICE OVER)

HIS FIRST ALL-SPANISH LANGUAGE ALBUM, CORAZON PAIRS SANTANA’S DISTINCTIVE GUITAR SOUND WITH VOCALISTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. RATHER You're very good at collaborating with people, particularly singers. SANTANA Yes. RATHER How did you come to that? And how does that work? SANTANA You know, I'm very grateful that people trust me. They know that if they invite me I won't step on their lines. I will not, you know, do-- do anything to disturb-- their space and-- and-- and place in the song. You know, I know when and where to get at -- get in and get out. And what- - 'cause I have a big portfolio of melodies and nuances and things that I learned from so many about how to adorn something around a melody to make it gorgeous. RATHER

And your latest album, Corazon. Tell me about that. How did it come about? What do you hope it will accomplish? SANTANA Oh, well, this particular vision came from the mind of-- my brother-in-law and manager now-- Michael Briones. And he said, "Have you ever thought of doing a Supernatural in Spanish with

a Latino?" And I was like, "What?" You know? And-- so he put the seeds of-- inten-- intentionality. We came up with-- songs-- songs to me are like shoes and then you look for the Cinderella or Cinderfella who's gonna sing 'em, you know, a she or a he. But-- but the song is like a shoe. Who's gonna fit this song? You know? And by the grace of God everything that we conjured that day became-- and we were-- when we were done with the last song in the last artist and we said, "You know, we're gonna call him and I'm-- we're pretty sure he's gonna-- he or she would wanna do it. And man, we're probably gonna have like a really, really good night at the Latin Grammy's." And I said, "Latin Grammy's? Why stop there? Why don't we go to the World Cup?" And everybody goes, "World Cup?" I says, "Yeah, why-- you know, why-- go big. You know, let's go big." RATHER (VOICE OVER)

AND SANTANA DID JUST THAT. THE SONG DAR UM JEITO (WE WILL FIND A WAY) BECAME THE OFFICIAL ANTHEM OF THE 2014 WORLD CUP. THE ENERGETIC COLLABORATION WITH WYCLEF, AVICII AND ALEXANDRE PIRES WAS HEARD BY SPORTS FANS AROUND THE WORLD. SANTANA (featuring WYCLEF)

Here we go, oh That’s all we know, oh So here we go, oh That’s all we know Dar um jeito…

RATHER (VOICE OVER)

I’LL BE BACK WITH MORE OF MY INTERVIEW WITH CARLOS SANTANA IN JUST A MOMENT.

ACT 6

RATHER I'm gonna take you back-- you've lived, to say the least, a full life. Still a young man but you've lived a full life. SANTANA Thank you. RATHER What's the worst thing that's happened to you in your life?

SANTANA Probably the darkest night of the soul is divorce after 34 years of marriage. Because my mother and father were married, by six months, 60 years and Deborah's, my ex-wife, parents were married forever, so we didn't know divorce. I didn't know divorce. You know? After Supernatural I think things just got out of hand with her running the business and the offices and the children and the homes and the families and everything and I think it got too daunting for her, because I remember her saying, "You know, you-- you create this vision but I'm the nuts and bolts. I'm the one that has to deal with the---” You know? And-- so I started feeling guilty because I felt like, you know, I'm on tour and I wish I could be the other way so she-- you can go on tour and I'll take care of the kids and look at-- smell the jasmine outside, you know? But-- anyway, for whatever reason, she said that the world that I was in was crushing her. RATHER Well, I take your point. That you say divorce is one of the worst things that's happened to you now. But let me take you back through your younger years. Fair to say that you were abused as a child? SANTANA That's right. RATHER Is there anything that you learned from that that you could share with us that might help some young person who's going through that kind of thing today? Or someone who suffered it as a young child but is now an adult and still having trouble with it. SANTANA Thank you for asking that, Dan. You know, because the-- this-- and everything about this is about information about healing. Desmond Tutu's thing is there is no future without forgiveness. That's his thing. You know? Dalai Lama's compassion. You know, everybody has their own thing. You know? What I found out is that I have the capacity to bring that person-- his name was Jose El Americano. Joe the-- Joe the American. So I brought him from wherever he was in the world, whether he's dead or alive, put him in front of me and then I turned him into a seven-year-old child. And when I saw him, then, like, this light-- I saw a light behind him. And I said to him, "Jose, I'm going to send you into the light that's behind you. I'm not gonna send you to hell, because I'll go there with you, and I don't wanna go to hell. So I'm going to forgive you for what you did to me and I'm gonna send you into the light and then I will be free." I would-- I will be able to say, "I am with innocence and purity and I am not what happened to me." And as soon as I said that it just felt like I was-- like I-- I dropped so much shackles and chains and-- and-- and-- and guilt and-- you know, guilt is because-- a lot of stuff that happens you think that you brought it upon yourself and all this kind of stuff. You know? So what I recommend to people is that when you forgive someone and send-- send them

totally into the light, you gain power. You know? My notes are juicier. My eyes have more light. I have more conviction. I'm not a walking victim who comes into the room, "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm-- I'm the guy who was molested. I'm a victim." You know? You drop all that stuff. And then you-- you become magnanimous. That's how you become magnanimous, by forgiving. RATHER Does one ever get over it? Completely over it? SANTANA Over what? Being molested, you mean? RATHER Yes. SANTANA I have. I don't think about it. A lot of people, because of this book, a lot of people bring it up. And I-- I believe that I'm in a place where I can say-- you know, there's something beautiful that this guru said, this teacher said. "The difference between God and man is that man is possessed by his possession, his little possessions. And God is free of all that he is." I am free. You know? I appreciate all the things that humans give me, you know, the house that I live and everything. But I tell you somethin', when I don't see it, I don't miss it. I'm not attached to anything other than Cindy Blackman-Santana, my three children. Even my guitars, I can grab any guitar in any store and still sound like me. So I'm not, like, superstitious that I-- I need to have some kind of ritual with amplifiers. No. I'm free from that.

RATHER What's left on your bucket list? SANTANA I dream of having one-- like Ted Turner, one TV station globally that would only show beauty, elegance, excellence, grace, dignity, integrity. Not all the other crap that they show on every other channel of fear. You know, and I call-- I call fear crap. I'm not-- I'm not afraid to call fear crap. You know? Because we do promote a lot. But I-- I would-- I would have one TV channel that in the morning it starts with women giving birth. Like, seven in a row. You know, like-- and you-- and the first thing you see is the-- the eyes of the child comin' out. We-- how many killings do we show a day and we're grossed out about showing birth? So I would-- you know, if-- if I had the capacity I would get a TV channel worldwide and present 24 hours excellence, beauty, integrity. All the things that the more you promote those things the more people will sit differently. In-- in-- instead of sittin' like, you know, "I'm-- you know, I'm wretched and I'm full of crap and I'm useless." And-- ah. You know? But-- 'cause people can be programmed or de-programmed to claim their own divine excellence. That's what I would promote.

RATHER But I think you would agree it's more likely that water will start running uphill than there's gonna be this kind of television station. SANTANA That's what they said about the world being flat. RATHER Touché and fair enough. But on your bucket list. I mean do you wanna see the Taj Mahal? Maybe you've seen the Taj Mahal. The high Himalayas. Something you wanna do, somewhere you wanna go in life? SANTANA No, those things are about as sacred as the backseat of a New York cab to me. What's really sacred, I think, is relationships with family. That’s what’s really sacred. RATHER Well, Carlos, outside of your own music when your time comes, as it comes to us all, at the funeral service for you or the memorial service, what one piece of music would you prefer to have played? SANTANA

You know, the rascal in me wants to say La Cucaracha or Tequila, but I won't go there. Or-- no, I think that the song that I would most like to hear--- Please don't play Amazing Grace. It'll piss me off. Don't play that one. 'Cause I'm not a wretched sinner, so don't play that one. Not even last. Play Galaxy In Turyia by Alice Coltrane because it sounds like heaven opened up and I'm getting a standing ovation up there. (LAUGHTER) RATHER Carlos, thanks again. You’ve been more than generous with your time. SANTANA Thank you. RATHER I really appreciate it. SANTANA Thank you. RATHER

Thank you.

END OF TRANSCRIPT