Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Fandango - A whiter shade of pale


Gary Brooker recalled the writing of the music : "I'd been listening to a lot of Classical music, and Jazz.
'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' seemed to be about two people, a relationship even. It's a memory. There was a leaving, and a sadness about it. To get the soul of those lyrics across vocally, to make people feel that, was quite an accomplishment.

When it came to me , I thought, 'Here's something.' I happened to be at the piano when I read them, already playing a musical idea. It fitted the lyrics within a couple of hours. Things can be gifted. If you trace the chordal element, it does a bar or two of Bach's 'Air On A G String' before it veers off.

That spark was all it took. I wasn't consciously combining Rock with Classical, it's just that Bach's music was in me."

Dedicated to my dear brother Nir Halfon and his family...