The greatest song of the 60s? Where were you when you first heard it. Did you go out and buy the album?

We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda 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 have just as well've 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

And so it was that later...

yes very nice song
It's a moving memory cos i kissed a girl for the first time on this song in England in 1977 or 1978...I was 14 or 15...

Gary Brooker on vocals, Clapton on guitar

I read years ago in some Beatle book that John would play this over and over on the record player in the back of his limo.

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mitchflorida
Where were you when you first heard it. Did you go out and buy the album?

I first heard it at my parents'place, when I was a kid....many years ago.

My father bought the "45 Tours" SP for my mother -I still don't know why he bought this one since my father was only into classical & jazz music ....I am going to ask him about it next week .
A few years ago,my father gave me his vinyls ,and the Procul Harum was one of them.
I played it from time to time on my turntable .













I am a Frenchie ,as Mick affectionately called them in the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977 .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-16 22:46 by SwayStones.

An unbelievably popular record..... Even now.

And recently won a poll on BBC radio 2 as THE most played record on British radio!

Whiter Shade of Pale - When a Man Loves A Woman - same song.

...cheezy moustaches, bad hair days and polyester clothes....and crappy weddings that I had to go to as a kid. That's what I think of when I hear this song.

If you were to take the ten most significant pop songs ever written, this would be one of them.

Jazz musician Bill Eyden was the session drummer on this track. He never played with Procul Harum again, but he did a superlative job here. He sounds a little bit like another jazz drummer we know. .

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Rip This
...cheezy moustaches, bad hair days and polyester clothes....and crappy weddings that I had to go to as a kid. That's what I think of when I hear this song.

I just think the music was so much better during those magical days. I can hear this influencing You Can't Always Get What You Want a little bit . . don't know which one came first.


You would have to call this group a one hit wonder, though they had some other production ..

For the record, Whiter Shade of Pale was released, May 1967 and You Can't Always Get What You Want was recorded November 1968.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-16 23:52 by mitchflorida.

If it was '67 I was 13 years old and I loved it, it was a huge hit here in Holland, it's still in the all time greatest TOP100 today.

I remember when they ask Gary Brooker (the song writer) what do you mean with "Whiter Shade Of Pale" nothing....... it just sounded nice....

Another evergreen ...............Nights In White Satin, I think it was also released in '67

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According to Wikipedia the organist, Matthew Fisher, was granted his royalties by The House of Lords on 30 July 2009. It only took him 42 years! I wonder what the amount added up to?

Sarah Brightman hits some nice notes here. This seems like a difficult song to sing.

It's a pitty the lyrics are arrant nonsense. Those hippie times... .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-17 00:16 by Stoneage.

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Stoneage
It's a pitty the lyrics are arrant nonsense. Those hippie times... .

Actually, the lyrics are from Chaucer's The Miller's Tale

The first verse is basically a scene setter, the writer is out on the town (getting drunk!) with a female friend. They sit down and....

There is a reference to a miller. Surely this is referring to Chaucer's 'miller's tale'? In this a Scholar convinces an innkeeper/carpenter that a flood is coming (via astrology). The Carpenter leaves and the Scholar has sex with his young, beautiful wife. It seems as though the writer is accusing the female of sleeping with another man. The woman denies this, although her face betrays the truth. The line regarding playing Tarot cards may well be a reference to the Scholar (forecasting, destiny, fate etc). The female says that the writer has examined his head, his soul, and his feelings (his cards?) and has come up with the fact that his friend is not pure (vestal virgins were temple servant types, supposedly completely pure). She is claiming that he has judged her already, and 'would not let' her be pure. The line 'leaving for the coast' means that these morals (purity) are going hay wire. The final line is saying that the although the writer has seen what he has seen (presumably he has evidence of her infidelity) he is not seeing the whole picture, that his eyes are clouded by prejudice (pre-judgement, right?)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-17 00:31 by mitchflorida.

......lotta cats had a whack at coverin' Pale......

Alex Chilton and Box Tops on first album ... King Jamican soul-man
Alton Ellis...even Shorty Long of Here Comes The Judge fame cut it at Motown in late sixties .....



ROCKMAN

Probably the best cover...........................





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Thanks mitchflorida! Well, maybe they are comprehensible then. You just have to look harder. Which you did.

Thanks for the Lennox video, Nicos! Damn, I had almost forgot how strikingly beautiful Annie Lennox is!

I never got the hype about this one, I find the melody of the verses really boring, and the guy's trying too hard to sound soulful.

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stones78
I never got the hype about this one, I find the melody of the verses really boring, and the guy's trying too hard to sound soulful.

This is really a classical music melody masquerading as rock and roll. If you don't like classical, (it reminds me of Bach), you probably wouldn't appreciate this song.

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stones78
I never got the hype about this one, I find the melody of the verses really boring, and the guy's trying too hard to sound soulful.

Back then you didn't try to be soulful or whatever...........you just doing you thing........and they did it well...classical

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Not sure it was the greatest but certainly up there.
Didn't go buy the LP bit I did hear them at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit.
Sometime in the 60's. They did a great version!

Marv Peck

Y'all remember that rubber legged boy

Just listen to their complete live record "Grand Hotel"













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I disagree that they were one hit wonders. Conquistador was all over the radio in 1972. And I don't know why this one didn't go further:

[www.youtube.com]

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mitchflorida
The greatest song of the 60s? Where were you when you first heard it. Did you go out and buy the album?

Greatest song of the 60s? I'm not sure it's even the greatest song of Procol Harum. Or maybe it's just overplayed. Anyway, I prefer Salty Dog and Shine On Brightly.

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Stoneage
According to Wikipedia the organist, Matthew Fisher, was granted his royalties by The House of Lords on 30 July 2009. It only took him 42 years! I wonder what the amount added up to?

He won the right to have his name on the credits and, I think, to receive royalties from that point on, however they ruled that he wouldn't be entitled to past royalties though... Something like that.

I love their A Salty Dog album!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-17 03:49 by His Majesty.