今日の「聴き比べ」は『青い影(A Whiter Shade of Pale)』です。
この曲は今更語る必要もない、言わずと知れたプロコル・ハルム(Procol Harum)のデビュー曲で世界中で大ヒットした、今や神格化された不朽の名作と言われています。
1967年、前身のパラマウンツ(The Paramounts)を解散したゲイリー・ブルッカー(Gary Brooker)がマシュー・フィッシャー(Matthew Fisher)らと設立したバンドがプロコル・ハルムです。ツイン・キーボードによるクラシカルなロックの先駆けとなりました。そして発表されたデビュー曲が『青い影』でした。詳しくは過去の記事をご覧ください。
A Whiter Shade of Pale
by Gary Brooker,Matthew Fisher & Keith Reid
We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda 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, 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
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
If music be the food of love
Then laughter is its queen
And likewise if behind is in front
Then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
Seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
And attacked the ocean bed
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
A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum
このプロモーション・ビデオが懐かしいです。
この曲は「過去75年UKで最もプレイされた曲ベスト10」の堂々1位に選ばれています(Wikipediaより)。
ということはそれだけカバー曲も多いということですが、今日は珍しいところでジャズ・ヴォーカルでカバーしたバージョンを紹介ます。キンクスの「サニー・アフタヌーン」でも取り上げましたヘイリー・ロレン(Halie Loren)です。彼女の2008年のファーストアルバム『They Oughta Write A Song... 』に収録されました。彼女の気だるいヴォーカルが何とも言えません。
Halie Loren - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
この曲はイージー・リスニング分野でもかなりレコード化されました。ロック以外にも多くの分野で演奏された珍しい曲でした。
それでは今日はこの辺で。