Sunday, July 30, 2017

"A Whiter Shade Of Pale" #5 7/29/1967

What a week for 60's music. Another simply iconic song of the era came from Procol Harum, and was somewhat adapted from Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales." John Lennon couldn't stop listening to it from the back seat of his psychedelically-painted Rolls-Royce. The lyrics didn't quite register with me at the time (I was 11), but I still loved the record. It took me a long time to find out what Vestal virgins were! Vesta was the Roman goddess of hearth and home, and being one of the Vestal virgins on earth was a big deal. It's the most played song in British broadcasting history. BTW, #2 on that list, "Bohemian Rhapsody," also has the word "fandango." There is a stereo mix with a different drum track, but the mono version from the single and this pre-MTV video is 100 times better. A record that summarizes the 60's in four minutes, and in my all-time Top 5.


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