Uploaded April 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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Halie Loren - A Whiter Shade of Pale
Lyrics By – Gary Brooker; Music By – Keith Reid
Album - They Oughta Write A Song
Released - 2008
Label - White Moon Productions
Credits - Bass – Mark Schneider; Drums – Brian West; Piano – Matt Treder; Trumpet – Tim McLaughlan; Vocals – Halie Loren
_____ Winner of the Best Jazz Vocal Album Just Plain Folks Award out of over 42,000 entries as well as countless critics raves from around the world . (..). They Oughta Write A Song deserves to take a place among the great vocal jazz albums.' (Wildy Haskell, Wildy's World).
_____ "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut single by the British rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967 and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. One of the anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of the best selling singles in history, having sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. The original writing credits were for Brooker and Reid only. On 30 July 2009, Matthew Fisher won co-writing credit for the music in a unanimous ruling from the Law Lords.


"We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kind a seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, I'm home on shore leave,
Though in truth we were at sea
So I took her by the looking glass
And forced her to agree
Saying, you must be the mermaid
Who took Neptune for a ride.
But she smiled at me so sadly
That my anger straightway died

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, there is no reason
And the truth is plain to see
But I wandered through my playing cards
And would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open
They might just as well've been closed

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale"