The very jovial Gary Brooker in his silken Chinese finery – complete with tack-on pigtail – on the BBC's chart show, Top of the Pops, July 1967
A Whiter Shade of Pale was
celebrating its fifth week at No 1
in the UK, and Gary marked this with a couple of
conspicuous lyrical flubs (only the vocal was live)
which had Ray Royer and Dave Knights
grinning and laughing too (Bobby Harrison's face is
never shown so we cannot tell whether or not he is also
amused).
Bassist Dave Knights (left) shares the joke ... guitarist Ray Royer (right) showed his amusement by creasing up, which a screen-shot cannot capture
'We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels cross
the floor ... the room was humming harder
...
the crowd called out for more,
I didn't know what's happenin', 'cos my mind has blown its cool
... when we called out for another drink ... etc etc ...'
Click here for the full
version (mp3), or
click here for a shortened mp3 featuring only the oddities
Matthew Fisher (Hammond organ – a model with tabs, not drawbars)
This is the most we see of drummer Bobby Harrison (far left). Hard to understand why the cameras should have ignored him completely
The viewing public was also treated to an excerpt from
the 'lost' third
verse of 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
forced her to agree
One of sixteen vestal virgins ... etc etc'
