In 1974 the song was covered by Bruno Battisti D'Amario and Edda Dell'Orso for the album Samba para ti. 'Samba Pa Ti' is one of the group's most popular and acclaimed songs, and it is still in the band's tour set lists. He couldn’t make up his mind which one to put in his mouth first, the saxophone or the bottle and I immediately heard a song'.'I wrote the whole thing right there'-Carlos Santana And I kept looking at him because he kept struggling with himself. ''Samba Pa Ti' was conceived in New York City on a Sunday afternoon,'.'I opened the window I saw this man in the street, he was drunk and he had a saxophone and a bottle of booze in his back pocket.
In 2008, Santana told Mojo that 'Samba Pa Ti' was the first song he felt he could call his own.
The song was written by Carlos Santana after he witnessed a jazz saxophonist playing in the street outside his apartment.