Today’s song isn’t like most of the others I’m featuring, in that it was never officially released in its original form. It has that in common with ‘If I Were a Boy,’ the song that kicked off this series on ‘Covers You Didn’t Know Were Covers.’

‘The Game of Love’ is best known as a 2002 song by Santana featuring Michelle Branch on vocals. The track reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, a great showing, though somewhat in the shadow of Santana’s 1999 #1 singles ‘Smooth‘ and ‘Maria Maria.’

‘The Game of Love’ was co-written by Gregg Alexander (of New Radicals) with Rick Nowels, and Alexander recorded a demo but decided to shelve the song. Later, his manager sent the track to Clive Davis, who was producing the new Santana album, and he grabbed it. If you listen to New Radicals one big hit, ‘You Get What You Give,’ you’ll hear the similarity in songwriting style.

Davis considered using Alexander on lead vocals, but opted to go for a female vocalist instead. His first stop was Tina Turner, who recorded a version of the song but declined to appear in the video. His next choice was Macy Gray, but Davis was reportedly unhappy with the results (sorry, couldn’t find a link to that one).

Finally, Davis and Santana landed on the then 19-year-old Branch, whose blend of MTV appeal and wiser-than-her-years bearing was just the right fit to send the song up the charts.

As for Alexander, he released only one album with New Radicals, but has continued writing songs for others in the two decades since. He served as co-writer of the songs in the 2014 film Begin Again (which I highly recommend). Most recently, he played ‘You Get What You Give’ at Joe Biden’s inauguration.