Two longtime members of Procol Harum celebrate their birthdays today (August 29th). Chris Copping, the band’s bassist and keyboardist from 1969 through ’77, turns 74. Current guitarist Geoff Whitehorn, who joined in 1991, turns 68. Procol Harum: “A Whiter Shade of Pale” Lyricist Keith Reid says he was trying to tell a story “and make people not just hear [it], but feel it and smell it and taste it. It peaked at number-five on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s one of fewer than 30 singles that have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.: “A Whiter Shade of Pale” has become a rock classic, and not just because of its striking music. Lyricist Keith Reid says he was engaged in some multi-dimensional storytelling when he wrote the words.
“I know what I was trying to say. I had a story line, the song tells a story. It was originally a much longer story, because originally the song was twice as long as it ended up on record. And also I was trying to paint a picture and communicate a mood. That’s what I was trying to do lyrically. I was trying to tell a story and I was also trying to make people not just hear the story, but feel it and smell it and taste it. And hopefully I did.”
