Samba Pa Ti is a song that I wrote when we came back from
Europe the very first time. I was up in my room looking out my
window because I heard this sound. This cat blew a couple of
notes on the saxophone in the back of the alley.
And when I looked out, he was trying to stay up on his feet.
It looked like the whole world was moving around him. And he
was trying to decide between putting his saxophone in his
mouth and putting the bottle of booze from his back pocket
into his mouth.
And I thought "he is a prisoner." He didn't know what to put
in his mouth next - the horn or the bottle of booze, you know.
And it just hit me. It really broke me down because he looked
like all of us at one time or another.
And for some reason, i just heard these lyrics, "through every
step in life you find freedom from within." And then I heard
the melody.
It was one of the first songs that I felt really free, free
enough to forget about anything. You just let it flow through
you. And even though it's very simple, there's still a lot of
emotion in it.