Skipped the light fandango 

OK boomer, time to put down the Arts & Entertainment section and take another glance at the obituaries. 

Gary Brooker, a co-founder and lead singer of Procol Harum, died this week. He sang and co-wrote the baroque and stately “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” a song that helped, along with the Sgt. Pepper album, define the music of the Summer of 1967. It’s also one of a handful of pop songs so out of leftfield that even now, more than 50 years later, they remain stunning listens (see also Good Vibrations, Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag, Like A Rolling Stone). 

We took an immediate liking to “A Whiter Shade of Pale” when WABC began playing it that July and rooted for it each Tuesday afternoon when the station introduced its new weekly Top 20. It rose as high as #2 the week of August 8, blocked from the top spot by “Light My Fire.” How did two songs based around a keyboard sound grounded somewhat in the music of Bach occupy the top two places in a popular music survey? (A sound that also found its way in 1986 to Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over”). 

The enigmatic lyrics could be viewed as hip Cliff Notes to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales with its “vestal virgins” and “the miller,” but to take a more down-to-earth perspective, it could have also recounted a night of epic drinking down at the pub, falling into bed with the puke-inducing spins (“the room was humming harder, as the ceiling flew away”). 

Procol Harum favored a dual keyboard set-up, with Brooker on piano and Matthew Fisher playing organ. Brooker’s piano drove one of their FM standbys, “Simple Sister,” with a bridge “borrowed” from the Capitol’s “Cool Jerk,” a reminder that while the band was a pioneer of progressive rock, it always had a strong R&B feel. Otis Redding never got the chance to cover “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” but it would have been interesting. (Considering how Otis messed up the lyrics of “Satisfaction” and “Day Tripper” when he sang them, “A White Shade of Pale” wouldn’t have stood a chance). 

Brooker’s obits are mostly about “A White Shade of Pale,” but he also wrote and sang “Conquistador,” one of the ten greatest progressive rock tracks ever, and the epic, evocative “A Salty Dog”. He played on George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” album, toured with Ringo Starr and had a bit role in the “Evita” movie. Who knew?