I managed to go see Procul Harum in the 1970s a number of years after Whiter Shade of Pale hit the charts. I'm not sure whether it was a group collective decision or not but Gary Brooker refused to play and sing their biggest hit when playing live. They did however play their two other big songs, Homburg and Salty Dog. I had both those singles. The copy of Homburg I had, got scratched and the line, "leaving ony ash filled ashtrays" then continued shtrays, shtrays, shtrays etc. Hearing it live seemed very weird when they just continued straight on. Salty Dog however remained pristine and is probably somewhere is storage waiting for me to reclaim it.
I think it is a great tune and it does occasionally get played on the radio but I think it could stand a few more hearings.
A Salty Dog - Procul Harum. There is no copy of the original single on You Tube that I can see. This is a live version from 10 years ago and is rather good with added strings, choir and Gary deciding not to be too far up his own backside. It's a also a couple of songs so you don't have to listen to the whole 11 minutes!
2 comments:
Well, it got better as it went on!
Can't see today's radio stations playing that, though.
I had the album A Salty Dog. On vinyl. Still do, somewhere. Gary Booker's a bit of a drongo, but the band's work is above average. They almost figured on my list!
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