Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal tells, in a few lines repeated like a chant, the story of the Mughal emperor who built a monument for the wife he loved. It closes Ben (1972) at five and a half minutes. In 1975 it stretched to nearly fifteen on the jam album Gil e Jorge with Gilberto Gil, and in 1976 Ben cut it again, faster and electric, for África Brasil. Pitchfork placed it at 196 in its list of the best songs of the 1970s, and it is among the songs he has played most often on stage.

In 1978 Rod Stewart's Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? went to number one with a chorus melody that is plainly Taj Mahal's. Ben sued; the case was settled amicably, and Stewart's royalties from the song went to UNICEF. In his 2012 autobiography Stewart admitted to unconscious plagiarism. The American bluesman Taj Mahal later recorded the tune himself, retitled Jorge Ben.