Even by the creative standards of 1967, Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale sounded extraordinary. John Lennon played it obsessively on acid while he waited for Sgt Pepper's release. Hearing it for the first time the night he met Linda Eastman, Paul McCartney described it as ‘a benchmark'. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, a rattled Brian Wilson claimed it sounded like ‘my own funeral’.
DJ / producer Guy Stevens had brought together Procol Harum’s songwriting partners Gary Brooker, from Southend R’n’B band The Paramounts, and poet Keith Reid in April 1967 [sic!]. Astonishingly, they released A Whiter Shade of Pale just one month later. With its haunting, Bach-inspired organ line from keyboard player Matthew Fisher and Reid’s enigmatic lyrics, A Whiter Shade of Pale became one of the most analysed and dissected songs of all time. It also became one of the most successful: in 2004, the performing Rights Group certified it the most-played song of the last 70 years, clocking up almost 1,000 cover versions and 10 million sales.
A year later, Fisher filed a lawsuit against Brooker, claiming co-writing credits for the song. On December 20, 2006, Fisher was awarded 40% of the copyright [sic] in the high Court. Today Brooker and Reid are still outraged by the ruling, while Fisher harbours resentment towards his former bandmates. Quite what the '16 vestal virgins heading [sic] for the coast’ might have made of all this remains a matter of pure conjecture.
(photo caption, right: 'Procol Harum get their heads together in '67: (clockwise from bottom) Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher, Ray Royer, Dave Knights and drummer Bobby Harrison [ replaced by Bill Eyden for the recording of A Whiter Shade of Pale]')
Three
contributors to the famous song are quoted at length: click to read their
statements
Gary Brooker's remarks
Matthew Fisher's remarks
Keith Reid's remarks
