What was "the light fandago" and why all those vestal virgins leaving for the coast? The music was certainly influenced by Bach as the chief composer Gary Brooker later admitted and the lyrics created by Keith Reid have a dreamy, metaphorical quality - suggestive rather than clearcut.
Keith Reid once said that he had been at a party when he heard someone tell a stoned partygoer that she had lost her colour and turned "a whiter shade of pale". That odd phrase stuck in his head, only to emerge later when he was crafting the lyrics for Brooker's music.
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" might easily have been the theme tune for that so-called "Summer of Love" - 1967. It's getting on for sixty years since the song was first played by British disc jockeys. Now it is part of our modern cultural heritage. It has its place and in my humble opinion, it remains kind of magical.
By the way, the band's odd name, Procol Harum was an error. For some odd reason they wanted to name themselves after a breed of pedigree Burmese cat with the official Latin moniker - procul harun. Apparently, a friend had one.
We skipped the light fandangoTurned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kind of seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale
She said, "There is no reason
And the truth is plain to see"
But I wandered through my playing cards
And would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open
They might just as well have been closed
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale
I've always loved this song. When I hear the line about the miller I think of Chaucer.
ReplyDeleteClassic tune.
ReplyDeleteAs YP has observed, it owes A LOT to J S Bach. Similar concept to Bach/Gounod "Ave Maria."
Delete1967. The Summer of Love.
ReplyDeleteMia Farrow tried to turn her husband Frank Sinatra on to heavy rock.
He tried but Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane & the Stones he found de trop.
In that year Cher released her fourth album ; Alfie was a hit for her in 1966.
Songs of 67.
A Whiter Shade of Pale. Procol Harum.
Ray Charles. In the Heat of the Night. (From the Sidney Poitier film.)
Bob Dylan. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight.
Glen Campbell. Gentle On My Mind. By the Time I Get To Phoenix.
Stevie Wonder. I Was Made To Love Her.
Simon & Garfunkel. Mrs Robinson. Scarborough Fair. The Sound of Silence.
Nancy Sinatra. You Only Live Twice.
Leslie Gore. California Nights.
Kathy Kirby. No One's Gonna Hurt You Anymore. My Yiddishe Momme.
Leonard Cohen. Suzanne.
Janis Joplin. Big Brother & the Holding Company.
Arlo Guthrie. Alice's Restaurant Massacree.
Tim Buckley. Morning Glory.
Dionne Warwick. I Say A Little Prayer.
Aretha Franklin. You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman.
Gladys Knight and the Pips. I Heard it on the Grapevine.
Dusty Springfield. The Look of Love.
Joni Mitchell. Both Sides, Now.
Julie Felix. I Can Touch the Sun. Going to the Zoo. ( Flowers album. )
Carole King. Pleasant Valley Sunday.
Bobby Gentry. Ode To Billy Jo.
Lulu. To Sir With Love.
Cilla Black. Step Inside Love (written by Paul McCartney 1967 released 1968).
The Beatles. Strawberry Fields. All You Need is Love.
The Rolling Stones. Ruby Tuesday. Let's Spend the Night Together.
The Doors. Light My Fire.
Scott McKenzie. San Francisco.
The Hollies. Carrie-Anne.
American Breed. Bend Me.
Phil Harris & Bruce Reitherman. The Bare Necessities (Disney's Jungle Book.)
Van Morrison. Brown-Eyed Girl.
Frankie Valli. Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You.
Johnnie Mathis. Misty Roses.
Peter, Paul & Mary. Leaving On A Jet Plane.
The Monkees. Now I'm A Believer.
Pink Floyd. See Emily Play.
5th Dimension. Up, Up and Away.
Manfred Mann. Ha ! Ha ! Said the Clown.
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terret. Ain't No Mountain High Enough.
The Moody Blues. Knights in White Satin.
The Bee Gees. To Love Somebody.
The Kinks. Waterloo Sunset.
The Tremeloes. Silence is Golden.
Keith West. Excerpt From A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack).
The Who. I Can See For Miles. Pictures of Lily.
The Mamas and Papas. Dedicated to the One I Love.
The Seekers. Georgy Girl.
Percy Sledge. When A Man Loves A Woman.
Herman's Hermits. There's a Kind of Hush.
Tom Jones. I'll Never Fall in Love Again.
Engelbert Humperdinck. Please Release Me.
Matt Monro. Wednesday's Child.
Tony Bennett. For Once in My Life.
Andy Williams. Music To Watch the Girls Go By.
Robert Goulet. Come Back To Me.
Long John Baldry. Let the Heartaches Begin.
Louis Armstrong. What A Wonderful World.
Whistling Jack Smith. I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman.
Sandy Shaw. Puppet On A String.
The Supremes. The Happening.
Petula Clark. This is my Song. Don't Sleep in the Subway.
Etta James. Tell Mama.
Julie Andrews. Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Shirley Bassey. What Now My Love ? Count Basie Orchestra.
Albert King. Born Under A Bad Sign.
Otis Redding & Carla Thomas. Tramp.
Buddy Guy. My Time After A While.
Johnnie Taylor. Somebody's Sleeping In My Bed.
Vikki Carr. It Must Be Him.
Nancy and Frank Sinatra. Somethin' Stupid.
Gene Pitney. Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart.
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Why Did I Get So High ?
Cat Stevens. Matthew and Sons.
The same Cat Stevens who appeared later on BBC television and called for
Salman Rushdie to be murdered for writing The Satanic Verses.
Fay Godwin asked that he be charged with incitement to murder. He never was.
Fay Weldon, the distinguished English novelist, called on
DeleteCat Stevens to be charged with incitement to murder.
I got her mixed up with Fay Godwin, the landscape photographer.
Now known as Yusuf Islam, the singer called for Salman Rushdie
to be killed in May 1989.
In August 2020, Salman was stabbed multiple times by Hadi Matar
in New York. Surgeons worked eight hours to save his life.
Salman's memoir * Knife : Meditations After An Attempted Murder *
was published in 2024.
One of the best songs of the era. We really did have the best music, the 60's. I still tell people that.
ReplyDeleteI rememer this song, though it wasn't a favourite.
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered what the band's name was supposed to mean, but never with enough curiosity to look it up on wikipedia. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI have always remembered that song being played on the radio in the car ( a jag belonging to a car dealer friend ) after we had just hurtled down the M1 from Leicester at about 120 mph !!! It was early days of the motorway so not much traffic and presumably no speed cameras. I must have been very " brave" in those days!!
ReplyDeleteThat's my earworm for today thank you.
ReplyDeleteI had to refresh my memory of the song. Not my favourite but not bad.
ReplyDeleteI re,ember the song/tune but only the title/ that single phrase. I don't think I ever saw the lyrics in print. I did not have the record, and in 1967 I was 12 and had only been studying English in school for two years... Trying to understand song lyrics in English was not something that I attempted until a few years later (then primarily with Dylan, Cohen and Simon&Garfunkel...)
ReplyDeleteThe soundtrack of our childhood.
ReplyDeleteYouTube : Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale/ the story behind the song.
ReplyDeleteThat song is one of my favourites.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked the song, but I've never been clear on the lyrics. The ones I could make out didn't make much sense, and that's still true! But like you said, it's more about the dreaminess, the effect, than a message, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI remember this song. I never knew what all of the lyrics meant.
ReplyDeleteI had a small transistor radio that I listened to whenever I could.
It's the music that gets me, the words seem just nonsense. A favourite tune for me.
ReplyDeleteI was just a twinkle in my dad's eye but thanks to Sunday radio and a DJ who cannot be named I got the jist.
ReplyDelete