Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale, live in Denmark 2006 | First Time Reaction 

A Whiter Shade of Pale ..This is an example of studio 1st. Before I watch it I will bet that you do not mention what made this song so iconic and memorable. The haunting sound of the organ is overshadowed in the live version

Profil Harum is a progressive rock group ,this song is from 1968 ,other hits ,homburg ,a salty dog , conquistador ,the lead singer was Gary Brooker,also lead singer for songs by Alan Parsons project ,song limelight

I've seen/listened to this performance several times previously and for the newly initiated, the original should be heard to get a better context to fully appreciate it. If classical/rock fusion is to your taste, you need to check out some of The Moody Blues! Ooops, I guess you have...

Procol Harum was actually from the 60's

@@keithpittell3944 Started.

Henry Scott-Irvine's book on the story of the band says (p28) that it was the name of a cat; owned by an acquaintance of record producer Guy Stevens who suggested it - the band had no idea of the meaning of the words. The book says it was a corruption of Procol Harun, which has one Latin and one Arab word, possibly interpreted as 'light bringer from afar', which seems to work! I think the book is a good read, also going through the story of The Paramounts before Procol Harum were created, all based on the accounts of the people involved.

@@MikeFisher-123 Yes, I heard about the cat name 👍

A timeless classic

Reminds me of my youth when this song was a hit. Of course back then you had to listen over and over again to get the lyrics.

Duty has me confused, yet this light of sighter has my eyes bright and balling. Thank you! From all that could have slid a mountain.

1967

Lucky You this is Beautiful

Bach, yes.

And the Millers tale, by Chaucer 1390.

i concur

One of the live performances ever.

Not my understanding. In fact, tgere was a 5 verse version that explains it was an encounter of Love with a Staff Member of a Cruise Ship. 🇦🇺

@@MelodyMan69 Keith Reid, who write the lyrics: "I’d been listening to music since I was 10, from ’56 to ’66 - The Beatles, Dylan, Stax, Ray Charles. The period of A Whiter Shade of Pale was the culmination of that 10 years of listening. But my main influence was Dylan. I could see how he did it, how he played with words. I’d met Pete Townshend through Guy Stevens, and he’d put my name forward when Cream were looking for a lyricist. Then Guy put me and Gary together. I was writing all the time. A Whiter Shade of Pale was just another bunch of lyrics. I had the phrase ‘a whiter shade of pale’, that was a start, and I knew it was a song. It’s like a jigsaw where you’ve got one piece, then you make up all the others to fit it. I was trying to conjure a mood as much as tell a straightforward, girl-leaves-boy story. With the ceiling flying away and room humming harder, I wanted to paint an image of a scene. I wasn’t trying to be mysterious with those images, I was trying to be evocative. I suppose it seems like a decadent scene I’m describing. But I was too young to have experienced any decadence, then. I might have been smoking when I conceived it, but not when I wrote. It was influenced by books, not drugs. It was twice as long, four verses. The fourth wasn’t any great loss, but you had the whole story in three. When I heard what Gary’d done with them, it just seemed so right. We felt we had something very important. As soon as we played it for anyone, we got an immediate response."

He actually said " it's one of the best songs I've heard for a while ", not quite the same thing, but is a great record.

He was in his early 60's when this was recorded. I agree with the rest.

We 'baby boomers' were so lucky. Wouldn't swap music places with any other.

FYI. There were later versions that ADDED 2 extra verses. Help to explain the 'encounter' a little better. Cheers.

I have those two extra verses written down somewhere. As far as I know, there is only one recording with three verses and none with all 4.

Incorrect, it was actually released in 1967, so nearly 57 years ago

@@Llydrwydd You're not wrong, but he referenced this performance of 2006, which was 39 years after the original studio recording.

@@JacoWium Yes, that's certainly true. I misunderstood.

@gerrydantone6834 GARY BROOKER also played piano with musician friends of George Harrison, as well as his son Dhani, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Albert Lee, Billy Preston and others at the "CONCERT FOR GEORGE." It was held at the ROYAL ALBERT HALL in London on NOV. 29, 2002 which was the first anniversary of George's death (Nov. 29, 2001) FABULOUS concert playing many of George's songs that HE wrote when in the Beatles and from his solo career. RAVI SHANKAR who was a very close friend of George's and who taught him to play the SITAR, did an opening for the concert playing several pieces on his SITAR with other east Indian musicians. That was magical. IF you have NEVER seen that concert, you should seek it out. It is also available on DVD. I know you can see some clips from it here on You Tube, especially "WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS" you will see Gary at the piano on the left side of your screen.

The music we had back then was just wonderful and to think they had such limited equipment, real talented musicians.

I agree with everything you say,they are my all time favourite band and I have all of their songs.Nice to hear from someone else who appreciates their music.

Great recommendations! How I miss those days when we'd spend our paper delivery money (or whatever other job for spare cash) on albums we only heard the one radio hit of, knowing we'll enjoy each and every track for the rest of our lives. Money spent on Procol Harum was always money very well spent. It's kind of possible to do the same today still, but the digital age has changed the landscape too much, for better or worse.

This is so touching, thank you so much for sharing with us