And a theramin! The instrument from the black and white horror movies and early alien sci-fi movies from the 50's. The sound of this instrument was used in those movies to make an eery psychic landscape, and it has a rather "weird" sound to it in this song, and it works. Somehow it fits in with the rest of the soundscape of this song.

22singing tatol background 44total

Vocally one of the most adventurous songs in all of rock history! Of all of the bands of their time, maybe the Beach Boys are tops amongst stiff competition (i.e., the Beatles)?

Wow! This is a big deal, Philip!

Thx for getting to this Phil! This is just pure and utter magic! Nearly 40 years after they released the song - they pop up with the Danish Orchestra and a choir to pull this off. Head shaking amazing!! Gary Brooker was in his 60's here & he never sounded better IMO - tremendous vocals. So much talent on that stage - lots going on to make this happen live. To me it is art and is one of the greatest LIVE musical performance in history. RIP Gary - You are missed but never forgotten.

Love this song 🎵 just ordered it 😊❤

questa è arte ed emozione

Those cellos go hard on the chorus!

Interestingly, NO one expects it when Gary begins. Everyone is taken very much by surprise. He was 61 here.

Brian did write the music and arrange it and produce the instrumental and the vocals but is not the lead singer on this one (though very prominent in the backing vocals), Carl Wilson his youngest brother sings a majority of the track including the verses. This song is almost 50 years old! and is part of one of the best albums of all time, Pet Sounds.

SOME BACKGROUND: The concert was filmed at the Ledreborg Castle in Denmark w-the Royal Danish Concert Orchestra. It has been "the most-played song in public places for more than 75 years." There have been some misconceptions surrounding the meaning of the song - see kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hsxnZruozsCtdoU.html for the interview w-composer/lead singer Gary Brooker & writer Keith Reid. Gary was founder of the band begun in '67; Gary passed away in February of 2022, Keith passed in March of 2023. It is also said that Reid was "going to reveal the true meaning before he died" but he died before he explained anything. Many people believe it was about a drunken one-night stand. Contrary to popular belief, the song is not a direct copy or paraphrase of any music by Bach but was inspired by & does reference Bach's "Sleepers, Wake!" and "Air on the G String!" As per Reid, the line "as the miller told his tale" is definitely not a reference to Chaucer's Miller's Tale. Reid has repeatedly explained he had never read The Canterbury Tales when he wrote A Whiter Shade of Pale. Procol Harum is said to be the name of a friend's cat. The name is a mis-spelling of the Latin phrase Procul Harun (roughly meaning "far beyond these things"), or that it was a corruption of Procellarm, a vast ocean on the Moon. In Roman Times Vestal Virgins were priestesses and acquired their name after Vesta. the goddess of the hearth and home. It was their duty to not only keep the home fires burning but to also remain a virgin for 30 years. AMAZING SONG - AMAZING GARY! COURT CASE: Matthew Fisher, a founding member and the organist of Procol Harum, won a High Court battle over who wrote “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” He played organ on the 1967 recording of the hit, which was long credited to lead singer Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid, and Fisher argued that he wrote the distinctive organ melody. And on December 20, 2006, Justice William Blackburne ruled that Fisher was entitled to 40 percent of the copyright. Fisher had wanted half (50%) but the court decided that lead singer Gary Brooker’s input was more substantial.

I love these old songs I grew up with. Thanks for your reaction.😊

From the same concert: Conquistador. Mind blowing.

👍👍I'm certainly digging these Old School Classic Vibrations. 🖖❤

Such a fantastic song❤🇨🇦🎸

The music of my youth - and in Denmark - I where I am from.The orchestra have made several remakes of film movies -among others The Good The Bad and the Ugly.

😲🏆🎼🎵🔝🏆❤

Procol Harum is legendary and awesome! I would certainly love to see some PH fans step up and buy Philip some coffees! I'm here for it!

And the organ, when it comes in, is the perfect foil to the piano!

Fine wine indeed, Philip!

Exactly Philip! Stunning that this song is still brilliantly inspired 39 years after it's recorded, and the performance is LIKE THIS!!! Truly amazing!!!

Perfect pronunciation Philip!

I'm completely overwhelmed by this performance! Talk about immortal!!!

It gets me by the throat when I think that old man singing this song was once a young kid coming out with this same song. Where did all of the years go?

The keyboard player behind the lead singer has the sound of that organ again, that made this song stand out so originally to me all those years ago.

I never realized how deeply personal these lyrics were. Then again, as an 8 year old boy my first impression was always of the music. It would not be until years later that I started listening to the words of songs.

That orchestral intro was sheer genius! What a beautiful bed to set the jewel that is this song!!!

OMG! It opens with an orchestra!!! Well, given the immense beauty of this song, that's perfectly logical, but wow!!!!!!!

This song fits beautifully into your classic rock catalogue, Philip! You can imagine Paul, John, Brian Wilson, Jimi Hendrix, all. of the worlds musical titans would all have listened to this song, and all would have loved it in that world of long ago and far away. . . .

I remember being a young boy of 8 years old completely mystified by the beauty of this track. Will be interesting to see it performed live all these years later. And Procol Harum fans out there, please supply us with the story of this band! For instance, is this the same lineup (unlikely)? Are any original members passed on? When? What circumstances? Procol Harum fans input would be most welcome for this program! Now I'm going to hear this legendary song, one more time. . .just for myself.

bro i here to support u❤❤❤❤❤❤ from india

Imagine first hearing such a powerful song as a kid like I did. XD

No vocals needed, the guitar sings 😊

Great reaction to the beautiful and multi-talented, Emily Linge. None of you reaction guys or gals can ever get her name right so I guess she will have to be one of those annoying, one name stars. Emily!. lol. Try saying Linger like you were British and drop the R. Emily is a favorite of many of us as she plays all the old music us Boomers grew up with. Not just that she covers classic rock but she does it extremely well. She also does more recent songs that I never heard before that I just love. She is well managed by her mother, Christine and has two older brothers that are also musical. You can see them in her Let It Be cover, which is awesome, btw. Thanks for the wonderful, thoughtful reaction. You rock Phillip.

The guitar weeps and sing for you, its so beautiful.

Love this song!

Tom is a true patriot!🎉

Three doors down are kings in their genre! Love all their songs!

He is an amazing singer, you should check out lighthouse and flaws

Great song and how true it is for so many of us! Brings hope!❤

Even drunk here Freddie looks and sounds better than anyone!

From what I've read, there was a conflict with Dick Wagner and the ownership of this particular demo and some others that have not been released.

Haven’t seen this video version before. I love it. Much better seeing the mix with Billy Preston more prominent as a part of the whole scene. ✌️

Great cover!

Absolutely one of their best. The whole album is iconic.

Hey bro I’ve requested a few times but checkout motivation by nick nittoli its bars

Steve looks soooo amazing! Hot hot hot!!

Billy Preston was a close friend of George Harrison ( he played a lot of solo album of Harrison , Ringo Starr and the first solo album of Lennon after the breakup ) . i recommanded you to listen " i want you " of the Beatles , he played also on this song and his part is incredible

GABRIEL é o único cantor que consegue cantar WHITNEY com maestria 👏👏👏

Hi Philip, it's Mick in the UK. Thank you for reacting to the extraordinary talent that is Emily. She is phenomenal. If you played her recordings for twelve hours non-stop, you would never have to repeat a song. Who else can you do that for? Not many, and none at sixteen years old. Well you asked about some background information on Emily, so the following is what I have written and sent out to her three fan clubs around the world. For all new fans, and fans of old, I give you…… The Background Story of Emily Linge. The surname is Norwegian and is pronounced “LING” as in sing, and “Eh” as in egg. “Ling-Eh.” Emily was born and raised in Dubai. She has an English mother, a Norwegian father, and three brothers, two older, Thomas and Christian, and one younger, Stephan. All siblings are musically talented which they inherited partly from their paternal grandfather who plays piano, but mainly from their mother Christine, who was a singer and guitarist in the well respected and talented UK country music band Kristina and the Kachina Band in the 1990s. The band was offered some lucrative bookings in Dubai and took up the opportunity. Christine and lead guitarist Simon Tomkins liked the lifestyle, and probably the financial benefits, and decided to stay there. Christine met, and married Eivind Linge, a dentist from Norway, and settled in Dubai. Christine continued working hard touring and, at the same time raising a family. She, unfortunately, had to give up her music career in 2005 due to medical reasons. Two years later, Emily was born on 5th December, 2007. Emily began singing from the age of two, and by the time she was nine years old her mom decided to devote her time as Emily’s vocal coach and manager. It was about this time that Emily began piano lessons with none other than Ovidio De Ferrari, one of the finest concert pianists in the world, who also happened to live in Dubai. Emily was also playing ukulele and taking guitar lessons from Simon Tomkins. When Emily was ten she recorded Yes, We Know It’s Christmas Time, written by family friend Simon Cheshire. By the time she was eleven in 2019, Emily had opened her KZfaq channel (2nd March), and had entered The Voice Kids UK as a duo with school friend Holly. Mentored by Pixie Lott, the girls harmonized well but were knocked out in the semi-finals (the “battles round.”) On 15th August, 2019, the song Words On Paper was uploaded on KZfaq by Jean Bass, its composer, and sung by Emily. Later in the year, Emily took part in The Young Musician of the Year Award 2019 hosted by the prestigious QE2, now a floating hotel and entertainment centre in Dubai. Eleven year old Emily became a finalist singing Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. On 11th July, 2020, Emily took part in the Yalla Festival, in Dubai, where musicians from the city were beamed around the world via the internet. The Yalla Festival was a two day event, incorporating twelve acts, six per day, and Emily was the opening act on the second day. It is basically a virtual concert where Emily was able to perform live for half an hour with a selection of eight songs, and playing both piano and guitar. For a twelve year old to do this, all from memory, without lyrics or sheet music, is pretty amazing by anyone’s standards. Emily’s version of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven is something special. Well done Emily. In June, 2020, Sina, of Sina Drums fame, collaborated with Emily to record Morning Has Broken, which has since received well over one million views on KZfaq. Sina had a special section on her KZfaq channel where, once a week, she would choose the “Collaboration Artist of the Week,” and Emily had the honour of being the first one chosen out of the many musicians and artists that Sina has collaborated with. In May, 2020, planning began by Sina Drums to commemorate what would have been John Lennon’s 80th Birthday on 9th October in that year. The plan was to record The Beatles’ Abbey Road medley (Golden Slumbers etc), in time for Lennon’s Birthday. Mike Wilbury, who is Sina’s dad, was the mastermind behind the video and production. Sina wanted to gather some of the most talented young musicians across Europe for the recording. Sina and Chiara Kilchling (support vocals, guitarist) were filmed in Germany, and Manou Rao (guitarist) in France. Now all they needed was a lead singer who could play piano. Sina remembered that Emily had recorded Golden Slumbers earlier that year, so Emily was contacted and agreed to supply the lead vocals and piano, and was filmed and recorded in Dubai. Let’s face it, who in their right mind would have a twelve year old as lead singer on such an important project??? Well, Sina obviously knew what she was doing. With Mike Wilbury’s genius, the whole thing was put together and finally uploaded on 9th October, John Lennon’s birthday. There have been many versions of The Abbey Road medley, but I don’t think that anyone can argue that this is the ultimate cover? When this project aired, Emily’s KZfaq subscriptions rocketed from a few thousand to tens of thousands. In March, 2021, thirteen year old Emily recorded Girls Like Me, the Mary Chapin Carpenter song, followed by Have You Ever Seen The Rain, the Creedence Clearwater Revival song written by John Fogerty. Both artists congratulated Emily on her beautiful covers, and John Fogerty even put Emily’s cover on his own Tik Tok page. Three months later, Emily recorded The Rose, from the film of Janis Joplin’s life story, and made famous by Bette Midler. The song was written by Amanda McBroom, who also contacted Emily to praise her, and said that she was going to “steal” Emily’s piano solo for her own concerts. Emily nearly always adds her own piano solos to her covers of other artists’ originals, and all the musical arrangements are her own work. Emily has always relished a musical challenge, and has gained a number of “firsts” in recent years. When she was thirteen, she was the first solo artist to sing and play Queens’ “Don’t Stop Me Now” live, in front of camera. At fourteen, Emily was the first to strip down the Procol Harum song A Whiter Shade Of Pale from a full band set-up to just her voice and piano, doing the arrangement herself, and once again, performed it live. Following this being uploaded, Emily received over one million views on her KZfaq channel in less than two weeks, with her subscriptions going well over one hundred thousand. When Emily was fifteen she took on what I consider to be the ultimate challenge, when she became the first ever solo artist to cover the full six minute version of Queens’ “Bohemian Rhapsody” live, on camera. Many have recorded shortened versions of the song, and even Queen would not play the full version live on stage. They would stop just short of “Scaramouche, Scaramouche,” then morph into another of their songs and form a medley. On their recording, “Scaramouche” onwards is where the recording studio wizardry kicks in. Emily is sixteen now and still loves a challenge. In January of this year she recorded “Crazy” the Willie Nelson song made famous by Patsy Cline. Patsy’s version had a special stand-out piano arrangement, by none other than Floyd Cramer, added to the recording. Many artists have recorded “Crazy” with someone playing the Cramer arrangement, but Emily is the first artist to sing and play the iconic piano arrangement live, at the same time. Emily’s other interests are: playing tennis, running, sewing, art, dancing, and looking after the love of her life, her pet Red-Fronted Macaw, Rocky. I believe Emily will continue to take on new challenges that come her way, and make new “firsts” in doing so. She is on target for achieving a million KZfaq subscriptions in the future, and has now hit over one hundred million views on her KZfaq channel. To date Emily has recorded 188 videos, including fourteen self-penned quality songs with more in the pipeline. I am sure that you will join me in wishing Emily every success for the future?" Thank you Philip. Take care, kind regards, Mick.