When a song become the most played ever
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967, on the 25 May it entered the UK chart for the first time.
The track went on to become a No.1 hit in several charts, it has became an enduring classic, representing one of the anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love.
In 2009 it was announced that this song was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the UK.
It’s said that John Lennon was a big fan of the song. There are also several covers of the song, Annie Lennox covered this in 1995 (for her album Medusa), as well as Willie Nelson covered it.
Keith Reid, who wrote the lyrics, formed Procol Harum in 1967 with Gary Brooker, becoming an official member even though he didn't sing or play any instruments.
Even if he was not a musician, he was conscious that to fulfill a hit song was not just a matter of how good is the song. He said:
“It was how good of a recording can you make? Because it was essentially live recording, and if you didn't have a great sound engineer or the studio wasn't so good, you might not get a very good-sounding record. And for some reason everything at our first studio session came out sounding really good."
