Santana – “Europa” Live
Santana’s Impressive Guitar Solos Created A Classic and Timeless Piece!
“Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile)” is an instrumental written by Carlos Santana and Tom Coster. It immediately gained massive success upon its release on March 26, 1976.
The 16 bar harmonic composition (chord progression) is that of the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves” (originally Les Feuilles Mortes”), with the first verse ending in the minor, and the last verse ending in the major.
It was born while Santana was touring in Manchester with Earth, Wind & Fire when he was playing the tune backstage. Tom Coster then helped him write the chords.
Upon seeing his friend was suffering a bad experience whilst high on mescaline, Santana composed a piece titled “The Mushroom Lady’s Coming to Town”. This precursor contained the first lick to “Europa”. It was put away and not touched for some time.
