A Whiter Shade of Pale

Gary Brooker on the song's relation to Bach

This is what Gary Brooker ('a blues singer and song-writer with Procol Harum') had to say on BBC Radio 4's 'Classical Cuts' programme, broadcast on 5 October 2004.

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The Beeb's blurb read, 'In the first of five programmes Tom Robinson traces the origins of our own aural landscape in the classical music of another age.

'Air on a G String: The second movement of JS Bach's Orchestral Suite in D is perhaps better known as the 'Hamlet cigar music'. As well as Jacques Loussier's jazz arrangement made famous by that ad, it has also inspired a number of pop songs, including A Whiter Shade of Pale and the 1998 rap hit Everything's Gonna Be Alright.'

More AWSoP lore

The same material in a different interview