"Smooth" is a collaboration between Santana and Rob Thomas,
the latter of the rock group Matchbox Twenty. The song was
written by Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur and sung by Rob Thomas.
Originally conceived by Shur as a song called "Room 17", the
lyrics were stripped off and the track was given to Thomas.
Thomas re-wrote the lyrics and melody and re-titled it
"Smooth". Thomas acknowledged that his choice of lyrics was
"mostly ironic". Thomas's original thought was to have George
Michael sing the song. Thomas recorded the song as a demo to
play for Santana. After hearing the song being sung by Thomas,
Santana decided to have Thomas record the final version. Matt
Serletic produced the record and it was released from Carlos
Santana's album
Supernaturaland became a massive hit in 1999, entering
the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 on August 10, 1999, and
spending twelve weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100
beginning October 12, 1999. It was the first chart-topping song
in Santana's long-running career (his previous biggest hit
being "Black Magic Woman", number four in 1971). According to
some charting standards, "Smooth" is Billboard's most popular
song of all time. Though some songs have spent longer than 12
weeks at number one, when combining total sales during the
entire time the song has charted, "Smooth" ranks higher than
any other. The song was the last number one hit of the
1990s.
The song won three Grammy Awards, including Record of the
Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
It spent a record-breaking ten consecutive weeks at the top of
the VSpot Top 20 Countdown, a record that held up until the
Dixie Chicks broke it in 2006. According to
Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hitsby Fred Bronson, this is
the number-one song of The Nineties (2003). A cover version of
the song is included in the Wii version of
Samba de Amigo. Escape the Fate also recorded a cover
version of the song for the compilation album
Punk Goes Pop 2, released on March 10, 2009.
Rob Thomas wrote this song for his wife, Marisol Thomas. The
pair married in 1999, after meeting backstage in 1998. Of
Puerto Rican origin, she was the inspiration behind lines such
as, "My muñequita, my Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa" Thomas stated
in interviews that the phrase "Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa" was
inspired by the 1972 Elton John song Mona Lisas and Mad
Hatters, which includes references to the 1961 Ben E. King song
Spanish Harlem (song).
On magazine's rankings of the top songs of the first fifty
years of the Hot 100 singles chart, "Smooth" was ranked as the
number-two song overall (behind only "The Twist) and the
number-one rock song in the history of the chart.
Fan Site with info about the song
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