IT’S JUNE 27TH and WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT AWSoP – ASAP!

I just discovered that today happens to be the birthday of two members of Procol Harum, the band best remembered for their Summer of Love smash hit,

“A Whiter Shade of Pale”

(AWSoP). In honor of that, I’m going to offer some of the trivia I found, concerning the interpretation of the song, and of the band’s name. I won’t go into the in-depth merits of each one, or we’ll be here for months. Let’s just have some fun and see what there is to see about this classic oldie. Hang onto something to keep you well grounded, and let’s take a look.

At one time or other it had been claimed, verified, suggested, proven, disproven, and/or rumored about AWHoP that…

1) the melody was lifted from or inspired by J.S. Bach’s
"Air on a G-String” (Oh pull-leez, you just had to snicker didn’t you? You know perfectly well what that means!)

2) the melody was lifted or inspired by J.S. Bach’s
"Sleepers, Awake” (Well, both Bach pieces have some AWSoP moments, you decide)

3) the melody resembles (or at least has the same chord progression as) “When A Man Loves A Woman” by Percy Sledge. WAMLAW actually was recorded one year ahead of AWSoP, so perhaps the inspiration goes the other way ‘round.

4) the lyrics refer are a boy/girl breakup theme revolving around nautical imagery.

5) the lyrics are about a boy/girl breakup theme involving drugs.

6) the lyrics contain the elusive “answer” to what Billie Joe McAllister threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge in Bobbie Gentry’s hit song, “Ode to Billie Joe.” This one particularly interested me, since I love OTBJ (does anyone else find these abbreviations as annoying as I do?) and wrote about it at length in my book, but, the answer? I think someone is pulling someone's leg.

7) the lyrics contain references to a) Roman/Greek mythology - Vestal Virgins, Neptune in the extra verse b) Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” – The Miller’s Tale c) Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, “If music be the food of love…” and d) Milton’s L’Allegro, “light fantastic” which may have morphed into “light fandango.” I’ll add an e) to the list – I think that “playing cards” and “looking glass” could be an oblique reference to Lewis Carroll’s Alice books (also see June 10/08 post).

8) the band’s name was borrowed from a pedigree cat.

9) the band’s name, Procol Harum, is “dog-Latin” (not to be confused with pig-Latin), which is kind of another way of saying bad Latin, and it might mean, more or less, any of the following: beyond those things, beyond these things, beyond that which is, far out.

Ah, the late ‘60s – AGTWHBA! (a good time was had by all)

Image of Bach, Vestal Virgin from Wikimedia Commons.

IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY - TELL ME WHO DO YOU LOVE

That's a very good question, and who better to formally ask it than Ronnie Hawkins and The Band. Check out this nice vid from the famous concert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYPVyJwzerM

Here we are once again celebrating that special day for lovers young and old. Given that love is the theme, I think it’s a little odd that the day is in honor of some obscure old Roman martyr (possibly more than one; history records several Valentines) that apparently no one, not even the Church itself, really knows much of anything about. My diligent (okay, it was one click) research shows that what we observe today as Valentine’s Day had more to do with later emphasis by Geoffrey Chaucer and Courtly Love (and no, that’s not a misprint, I didn't mean Courtney). The main focus back then, and for centuries afterwards, was the intimate exchange of hand-made heart-shaped love notes, no doubt discreetly delivered by servants, to the object of one’s affection. Nowadays of course it’s a mass marketing bonanza. A lot less intimate, I’m certain, but nevertheless, people, especially men, ignore it at their peril. The checklist has gone from simple cards to flowers, candy, jewelry, cars, real estate...who knows where the top end might be. Our interest here today is the music. One that gets featured (and covered) a lot is the classic oldie, “My Funny Valentine,” but really, any song about undying love will do. Here’s a couple of my particular faves. Both of them express their sentiments in astronomical terms, which is about as long term as it gets.

Everly Brothers – “Devoted To You” – A long-term declaration, all right. He’ll love her ‘til “the sun dries up the sea.” Eventually the sun will become a red giant, swell in size, and everything on all the inner planets, including Earth, will be toast – literally. That’s roughly 4.5 billion more years, according to some estimates, so if that’s the offer you get from your sweetie, I’d relax. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXeiExU8lrA

Beach Boys – “God Only Knows” – I’ve read comments about the opening lyrics to this one, saying that “I may not always love you” is a pretty strange way to start a love song. But listen on…it’s kind of like using a double negative. What he’s really saying is – “I’ll love you as love as there are stars in the sky.” As for that timetable, qualified people are still arguing over what will happen eons from now. Check out the Wikipedia article titled "Ultimate fate of the Universe.” No matter what happens to the Universe, love-wise it looks like an even better deal than the Everly’s are offering. Either way, you got nothin’ to worry about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi1HdLogwQk

Of course, not everybody out there will have a model Valentine’s Day. In case that’s you, here’s a little something for you, too. Kind of goes with the cookie picture, now that I think about it. I just added a link to a really neat video montage of Janis Joplin singing "Piece of My Heart" to my January 25/2007 on Fringe Benefits, so I won't post the same one again today. Instead, here's another vid of "Piece of My Heart" which I think is one of the cleverest I've found on YouTube yet. Same song, but juxtaposed with images from the BBC production of Jane Eyre! Ladies, you may wince at the very thought - pairing wild woman Joplin and the frilly ladies (and frilly gentlemen) of the 19th Century (kind of like wearing sneakers with a designer dress) but hey...it works! Anyway, I think it's an inspired choice. See what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pme-S8WenRs

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO YOU ALL