Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

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Novels with a Procol Harum thread

An index ... please write in with more examples


Jon Bing: En Blekere Skygge af Hvitt

WD Sebald: The Emigrants

Peter Robinson: When the Music's Over

Mikael Niemi: Popular music from Vittula

James Hold: Remember the Aloe, Moe

Håkan Nesser Och Piccadilly Cirkus ligger inte i Kumla

F Springer: Quissama

Sebastian Faulks: Engleby


Rock and Roll is Life by D.J.Taylor features the following scene – a September Sunday in 1967, Sunbury-on-Thames and the protagonist of the book (Nicholas Du Pont) is attending a trendy party among the guests are ‘Sandie Shaw; four members of the Dave Clark Five; half of Procol Harum’ (thanks, Jim Corbett)


A single reference to A Whiter Shade of Pale in Kate Atkinson's novel, Emotionally Weird:  'Robin was now dancing to Spirit in The Sky with his eyes closed and moving like a Woodentop, jerky uncoordinated movements that at first made me think he was having a fit. The music changed to Whiter Shade of Pale and Robin opened his eyes and grabbed me and pulled me to his thin bird breast. His granddad tee-shirt smelt of cheap joss sticks and sweat'. (thanks, Peter Christian)
 

Three crime stories by Arkadiusz Niemirski (Fabryka Słów, 2003 and the second edition of Vipart, 2005) under the Polish title Zbrodnia Prawie Doskonała ('A Nearly Perfect Crime' or 'Almost Perfect Crime' in English). These are three different stories with a thrill that have one thing in common – a surprising ending. In the third story Roses Island we visit one of the Normandy Islands (in fact Jethou Island) inhabited by the famous and crazy actor Tony Allen. In his house suspended from the top of the rock he fights a young rock guitarist wanted by the police for murdering his fiancée. During their musical duel, the younger begins to play on the white Steinway Mendelssohn's Wedding March, which after some time passes into Chopin's Funeral March to finally become We are the Champions and then A Whiter Shade by Procol Harum. He says, "Fucking piece." (thanks, Mirek)

Rather surprisingly the same author, Arkadiusz Niemirski, has a novel – in Polish – featuring a character named Roland Clare. No relation.


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