This day in HISTOROCK !!
In 1967, Procol Harum were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", the group's only UK No.1 !! One of the counterculture anthems of the 1967 "Summer of Love", it is one of fewer than 30 singles to have sold over 10 million copies worldwide !! In 2004 the song was named the most played record of the past 70 years with more than 900 recorded versions by other artists known, which is now up to over 1,000 and was voted No. 57 on the "Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" list !! Check out this incredible site : http://www.awsop-versions.com/ where you can see a detailed list of who has recorded this song(in multiple languages) over the years . This song has been performed and recorded by almost anybody and everybody in music, including Paul Revere And The Raiders, Annie Lennox, Marcy Playground to name a few !! The site is also endorsed by members of Procol Harum !! The song has also been used in many films(The Big Chill, Purple Haze) and although the original recording was redone, they still ended up using one of the originals for release . Keith Reid came up with the song title while at a party when he heard someone say, you've turned a "Whiter Shade Of Pale" !! The song only has 2 verses, but live they've been known to include a 3rd verse !! Reid and Gary Brooker were listed as the only songwriters, but in 2009 organist Matthew Fisher won a case in court and was given credit for co-writing the song !!
Keep on ROCKIN !!
Trike :-)
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