I remember the day it arrived: four very long stanzas, I thought, 'Here's something.' I happened to be at the piano when I read them, already playing a musical idea. To get the soul of those lyrics across vocally, to make people feel that, was quite an accomplishment. There was a leaving, and a sadness about it. 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' seemed to be about two people, a relationship even. You don't have to know what he means, as long as you communicate an atmosphere. When I met Keith, seeing his words, I thought, 'I'd like to write something to that.' They weren't obvious, but that doesn't matter. Having played rock and R&B for years, my vistas had opened up. Gary Brooker recalled the writing of the music in an interview with Uncut magazine February 2008: "I'd been listening to a lot of classical music, and jazz.
It doesn't mean to follow the fads and fashions is what makes a success, often it's the complete opposite of that.
We don't always want what we heard last week. It was very different to whatever else was around musically, off the wall and interesting. I think 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' fell into that category, something like - what's the one by the Irish girl that was a Prince song? ' Nothing Compares'? That's got lots of hooks in it, also. So if you're thinking of a single, then you've got to have hooks and/or you've also got to have something that's quite different to everything else that's around. That's the part that hooks you and gets you in. It might be an unimportant part of the song to you, but suddenly that is the part of the song that captures you. Often the people that aren't musicians, the producers and the people at record companies, are the ones that pick up on what is the hook. Therefore, that requires what we call 'hooks,' doesn't it? And hooks can be all sorts of things, they can be just a little turnaround in the song. What happens with a song that becomes a hit is that people want to hear it again, they've got to hear it again. When Songfacts spoke with Gary Brooker on the subject in 2010, he explained: "What is a hit? I think that any song that's going to immediately capture people and stay with them for a bit. The band was always more concerned with the quality and integrity of their music than with serving the singles market, which them unlikely candidates for one of the most successful singles of all time. Procol Harum had a few more modest hits, including " Homburg" and " Conquistador," but they attracted a devoted following, releasing 10 albums before breaking up in 1977 (they would re-form in 1991). And for some reason everything at our first studio session came out sounding really good." In those days it wasn't just a question of how good is your song? It was how good of a recording can you make? Because it was essentially live recording, and if you didn't have a great sound engineer or the studio wasn't so good, you might not get a very good-sounding record. At our first session, we cut four tracks, and 'Whiter Shade of Pale' was the one that recorded best. But there were a few others that we liked I would say equally - we have a song on our first album called 'Salad Days (Are Here Again)' that was a strong contender. And when we were rehearsing and routine-ing our first dozen songs or so, it was one that sounded really good. Says Reid: "We were really excited about it and liked it a lot. "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" was one of about 15 songs that he wrote for their first album. Reid formed Procol Harum in 1967 with Gary Brooker, becoming an official member even though he didn't sing or play any instruments.
0 kommentar(er)
