Procol Harum – "Shine On Brightly" (1968)

 

And even my befuddled brain

Is shining brightly, quite insane

From the Guardian (formerly the Manchester Guardian):

Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” is the most-played song in [UK] public places of the last 75 years . . . . The song is followed by Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” at number two, while the Everly Brothers' tender fifties hit “All I Have to Do Is Dream” is at number three. 

The rankings were compiled by Phonographic Performance Limited, the company that licenses songs on behalf of recording artists.  They are based on the number of times the records in question have been played in public – whether on the radio, or in restaurants and bars, or in elevators, dentists’ offices, or airports.

It’s a very good song – musically and lyrically – but it’s worn out its welcome as far as I’m concerned.   I’ve heard it waaaaay too many times.  Enough already!

By the way, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” is not the most-often played record in the United States – that honor goes to “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” by the Righteous Brothers (which edged out “Yesterday”).

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Most people don’t know much about the recorded oeuvre of Procol Harum – the group was named after a friend’s Burmese cat – other than “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

Procol Harum

But that’s not the only very interesting track the group recorded.

For example, there’s “Conquistador,” which was Procol Harum’s second highest charting single.

I bought the group’s sixth studio album, Grand Hotel, largely on the strength of its title track.  (I doubt I listened to the rest of that album more than once.)

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I’ve recently heard a couple of other Procol Harum songs that I like on the Sirius/XM “Underground Garage” show.

I think my favorite is “Shine on Brightly,” the title track from their second album, which was released in 1968:

Like “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” “Shine on Brightly” features a Bach-like organ part and rather pretentious lyrics.

Here are those lyrics to “Shine On Brightly” – hopefully Procol Harum’s copyright lawyers won’t have a conniption fit as the result of me quoting them in their entirety:

My Prussian-blue electric clock’s

Alarm bell rings, it will not stop

And I can see no end in sight

And search in vain by candlelight

For some long road that goes nowhere

For some signpost that is not there

And even my befuddled brain

Is shining brightly, quite insane

The chandelier is in full swing

As gifts for me the three kings bring

Of myrrh and frankincense, I’m told

And fat old Buddhas carved in gold

And though it seems they smile with glee

I know in truth they envy me

And watch as my befuddled brain

Shines on brightly quite insane

Above all else, confusion reigns

And though I ask, no one explains

My eunuch friend has been and gone

He said that I must soldier on

And though the ferris wheel spins ’round

My tongue it seems has run the ground

And croaks as my befuddled brain

Shines on brightly, quite insane

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What the hell all that is supposed to mean is beyond me.

If I ever get the chance, I’ll ask Keith Reid – who wrote the lyrics to “Shine On Brightly” and pretty much every other Procol Harum song – what he had in mind.

Reid has said that “the dark tone of his lyric writing derives from his familial experience of the Holocaust.”  Reid’s father was a Holocaust survivor – as was the mother of Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons.

Gene Simmons

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Reid is purely a lyricist – he’s never performed with Procol Harum.  (He’s not a singer and doesn’t play an instrument.)

Robert Hunter had a somewhat similar role with the Grateful Dead – he wrote the lyrics for a number of their most famous songs but never performed with the group (although he did record a number of solo albums).

Click here to listen to “Shine On, Brightly”:

Click on the link below to buy the record from Amazon: