A Whiter Shade of Pale - chords, tab and comments
Only Gary Brooker and Keith Reid were credited on Procol Harum's debut single of -67. 38 years later, organist Matthew Fisher filed a lawsuit, and won the rights for co-authoring - though losing royalities from earlier than 2005. Maybe Reid is the only man with good conscience here, because he wrote the lyrics only inspired by various literature, not by an author in particular. Brooker & Co ripped a lot of J.S.Bach. The famous bass line - in classic music called "ground bass" - is used in a helluwa lot of popular music. That's the way music evolves.
Reid never intended to be mysterious : he wanted to write a good-working lyric, and succeded. He describes a party scene with an inevitable end, and in mind he had a remark from a party "your face just turned a whiter shade of pale", which has become a literal notion ever since. He wrote four verses and a refrain, only 2 verses used for the original and later covers. They all go like the first one.
E G#m C#m we skipped the light fandango F#m F#m7 turned cartwheels cross the floor B B7 I was feeling kinda seasick E G#m B11 but the crowd called out for more A F#m the room was humming harder B B7 as the ceiling flew away E G#m C#m when we called out for another drink A B11 the waiter brought a tray B7 E G#m C#m and so it was that later F#m F#m7 as the miller told his tale B B7 that her face : at first just ghostly E A9 E turned a whiter shade of pale
As Brooker & Co fumbled around with Bach, I've fucked it all up. That "original" goes C Major, and on a classic guitar you won't be able to play the bass line one fully octave down. Thus, I've turned it into E major. Also, I play it 6/8 instead of 4/4 ... giving it a more "roots" feeling. It doesn't affect the base chords.
E
G#m
C#m
F#m
F#m7
B
B7
B11
A
A9
