Song by Song: "A Whiter Shade of Pale" Quiz

Answer: True

The single was released on May 12, 1967 with "Lime Street Blues" on the B-Side. It peaked at number one on the U.K. singles chart and at number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 57 on its 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

Answer: Keith Reid

The son of a Holocaust survivor, Keith Reid wrote the lyrics to every original, non-instrumental song Procol Harum released prior to 2017. He also wrote the lyrics for "Time Will Tell" and "You'll Be On My Mind" by the French singer Michel Polnareff and co-wrote "You're the Voice" for John Farnham.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, "Reid got the idea for the song when he overheard someone at a party tell a woman, 'You've gone a whiter shade of pale.'"

Answer: Matthew Fisher

In addition to Keith Reid, songwriting credit initially went to band founder and lead singer Gary Brooker, who wrote the music for the song. In 2005, however, Matthew Fisher filed suit in the High Court claiming that he co-wrote the music with Brooker.

In 2009, Fisher won a co-writing credit and the right to future royalties for the song after a unanimous ruling from the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (more commonly known as Law Lords). On the song, Fisher played Hammond M-102 organ.

Answer: Bach

Rolling Stone magazine describes the song as "A somber hymn supported by an organ theme straight out of Bach ('Air on the G String,' from the 'Suite No. 3 in D Major')." The song is considered to belong to the genre of baroque pop (also called "baroque rock"), which originated in the U.S. and U.K. in the 1960s and typically employs baroque compositional styles which often feature organs, harpsichords, functional harmony patterns, melancholy sounds, and contrapuntal melodies.

Other bands, including Rubber Soul, The Zombies, and even the Beatles employed the sound for some of their songs.

Answer: seasick

"We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more."

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and has given rise to hundreds of cover versions. In 1998, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Answer: the ceiling

"The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray."

Gary Brooker sang vocals and played piano on "A Whiter Shade of Pale" while Ray Royer played guitar. David Knights was on bass, and drums were played by session musician Bill Eyden. The song peaked at number one on singles charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the U.K.

Answer: the miller

"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."

Many have argued that the reference to the "miller's tale" is an allusion to Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." Tim de Lisle quotes songwriter Keith Reid in "Lives of the Great Songs" as saying, "'One thing people always get wrong is that line about the miller's tale. I've never read Chaucer in my life. They're right off the track there." When asked why he put it in those lines, then, Reid replied, "I can't remember now."

Answer: sixteen vestal virgins

"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 have just as well've been closed."

The Vestal Virgins were priestesses of Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth, and were chosen in their childhoods from among various prominent Roman families to serve for a period of thirty years. Considered brides of Rome, they took vows of chastity, much like nuns.

Answer: Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve

Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve (HSAS) featured Sammy Hagar (a.k.a The Red Rocker) on lead vocals, Neal Schon of Journey and the Bad English on guitar, Kenny Aaronson on bass, and Santana's Michael Shrieve on drums. HSAS's cover of the song appeared on their 1984 album "Through the Fire."

Answer: Annie Lenox

The Lennox version peaked at number 38 on the Canada Top Singles (RPM) chart. This cover of the song was also played during the closing credits of the 1995 action-thriller movie "The Net."