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Whiter shade of pale6/18/2023 The organ got its own track, as did the vocal, then the other two tracks were split between bass and drums on one and guitar and piano on the other. Back in those days, we only had four-track recorders. We recorded it with producer Denny Cordell, who’d already had hits with Georgie Fame (Yeh, Yeh) and The Moody Blues (Go Now) so he knew his craft. A lot of people might not notice that, but they are. Apart from that, the chords are exactly the same in the chorus as they are in the verse. All I had to do was somehow make the chorus sound like a chorus by adding a triplet on the lead up to it. That’s how I liked it, I wanted the music to reflect what the words felt like. But I didn’t jump out of my mum’s bungalow shouting, ‘I’ve written a hit! I’ve written a hit!’ I didn’t follow any trend or pattern or current fashion, but I think that’s what helped it in the end.Īlthough Keith and I had a very good relationship and worked with each other over many years, he never actually told me what any of his lyrics meant. Even in those early stages of the song I thought it was interesting, and that it could have potential. Not everyone had recorders to capture their ideas. I wasn’t thinking it could be commercial or popular, I just wanted to be able to remember it! Back then, you had to play things over and over until they got into your head. There are quite a lot of words in that song! His lines, ‘We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels across the floor’ are quite a mouthful so I had to spread them out, improvising as I went along. He delivered some lyrics from Keith which were, in fact, A Whiter Shade of Pale. The postman arrived when I was playing around. It’s got a descending bass line, and when I put chords with it and went all the way down the scale, I found I was back at the beginning – it was circular. It had been on a Hamlet cigar advert and I was trying to learn it by ear. One morning I started playing a bit of Bach’s Air on the G String. He writes music.’ I thought, ‘Hang on, I haven’t written any music yet, never tried!’īack then, I was living at my mum’s house in Southend. One day I went around to his and he introduced us: ‘This is Keith. Guy was a big operator in 1966 - he was an RnB DJ and was working with Island Records. I met Keith Reid via Guy Stevens, who was a mutual friend of ours. Here, co-writer Gary Brooker shares his memories on how it all came together with his creative partner Keith Reid… Its blend of blue-eyed soul and gentle psychedelia instantly caught the zeitgeist, propelling it to the toppermost of the poppermost in June of that year. English rock band Procol Harum arrived in spectacular style during the summer of 1967 with their debut single A Whiter Shade of Pale.
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