A Whiter Shade of Pale

"A Whiter Shade of Pale"
Single by Procol Harum
B-side	"Lime Street Blues"
Released	12 May 1967 (1967-05-12)
Recorded	April 1967
Studio	Olympic Sound, London
Genre	Rock[1] baroque pop[2][3] psychedelic pop[4][5] progressive pop[6] blue-eyed soul[7]
Length	4:03 (original single/album version) 5:54 (50th anniversary stereo remix)
Label	Deram (UK) London (US)[8]
Songwriter(s)	Keith Reid Gary Brooker Matthew Fisher
Producer(s)	Denny Cordell
Procol Harum singles chronology
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" (1967) "Homburg" (1967)

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is a song by the English rock band Procol Harum that was issued as their debut record on 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June and stayed there for six weeks.^[9] Without much promotion, it reached number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100.^[10] One of the anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of the most commercially successful singles in history, having sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.^[11] In the years since, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" has become an enduring classic, with more than 1,000 known cover versions by other artists.^[12][13]

With its Bach-derived instrumental melody, soulful vocals, melancholic tone, and unusual lyrics, the music of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was composed by Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher, while the lyrics were written by Keith Reid.^[14] Originally, the writing credits only listed Brooker and Reid. In 2009, Fisher won co-writing credit for the music in a unanimous ruling from the Law Lords.

In 1977, the song was named joint winner (along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody") of "The Best British Pop Single 1952–1977" at the Brit Awards.^[15] In 1998, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[16] In 2004, the performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years^[17] and Rolling Stone placed it 57th on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2009, it was reported as the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the UK.^[18]

The song has been included in many music compilations over the decades and has also been used in the soundtracks of numerous films and television shows, including The Big Chill, Purple Haze, Breaking the Waves, The Boat That Rocked, Tour of Duty, House M.D., Memory, Martin Scorsese's segment of New York Stories, Stonewall, Oblivion, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's documentary series The Vietnam War, and the limited series The Offer and Billions. Cover versions of the song have also been featured in many films, for example, by King Curtis in Withnail and I and by Annie Lennox in The Net.