Surrealistic Sunday Poetry Featuring Procol Harem at the 2022 Birthday of Poet and Lyricist Keith Reid

by Robert Wilkinson

We finish our musical weekend with a celebration of the incredible poetry of Keith Reid, who wrote the lyrics to all the Procol Harum songs!

Keith Reid (19 October 1946) was born in London, hooked up with Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher in April 1967, "A Whiter Shade of Pale” was created in May 1967, just in time for the legendary “Summer of Love,” and a form of proto-progressive rock was born! His lyrics are quite amazing in their imagery. Procol Harem was one of the bands that made 1967 unique and awesome in the music that came forth! Without further delay, here’s Procol Harum!

We’ll begin with a 30 minute live performance from 1967 in Paris! This is the classic lineup! Procol Harem Live at L’Olympia 1967 (He sings the long version of "Whiter Shade" with a verse that most have never heard!)

From the Midem Festival in Canne in 1968, a great live performance of their biggest hit and more! “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” From the same gig, a masterpiece! “Repent Walpurgis” (Last year I had “Kaleidoscope” but it’s disappeared.)

Yet another clip surfaced from that 1968 Festival in Canne, this time with “A Christmas Camel,” “Conquistador,” and “A Whiter Shade of Pale”

An early promo video that’s very weird! “A Whiter Shade of Pale”

Here’s the beginning of the classic lineup. This was their second hit, released at the same time as the first album in September 1967, featuring Robin Trower on guitar and BJ Wilson on drums! It’s a very strange video of the band playing this song at the Beat Club with videos behind them. (I’ve included the equally strange lyrics at the end for those who want to read pure poetry.)

Procol Harum at the Beat Club performing “Homburg” with a backing video! Also from the Beat Club in 1968, a great live performance of one of my favorites from their second album! “Quite Rightly So”

From 1967, a live performance at the Bilzen Jazz Fest of “Conquistador”

Released in Sept 1967, here’s their classic first album! Procol Harum (This has all songs on the UK version but without “Whiter Shade.”) Check out the lyrics to “A Christmas Camel” that begins 17 minutes in. Wow! They're also at the end of the article. And that’s Robin Trower on the lead. Wow again!)

Live on German television in 1976, a great live performance of their surprise 1972 hit from that first album, “Conquistador” (This performance is not the classic lineup, which ended when Matthew Fisher left after A Salty Dog and Robin Trower left after Broken Barricades. I’ve also included the lyrics to “Conquistador” at the end as well.)

Here’s their follow-up 1968 album, which got even more psychedelic than the first! This is an obscure classic that you should hear! Shine On Brightly (Check out the first song, “Quite Rightly So,” a great groove set to great lyrics!)

From that era, live at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, here’s their audio only performance of “Shine on Brightly”

Here’s their third album released in 1969, A Salty Dog

Here’s their fourth album from 1970, which marked a shift in their sound. While there will still some surrealistic piano and organ driven pieces, on others they rocked a lot harder! Home

I found it again! Here’s a great 51 minute ABC TV documentary from 1970 on Procol Harum called ABC: The Procol Harum Special.

Here’s a great 9 song set from the Beat Workshop television show in 1971! Procol Harem Live on the Beat Workshop (Set list: “Shine On Brightly,” “In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence,” “Still There'll Be More,” “Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Quite Rightly So,” “Magdalene,” “Power Failure,” “A Salty Dog,” and “Simple Sister”)

We’ll close this phase with an audio-only live in the studio show from 1971 when Robin Trower was still with the band! Procol Harum Live in NY – 1971

Leaping forward 20 years, 1991, a reunited Procol Harum gave us this album with Keith Reid lyrics, The Prodigal Stranger and then 12 years later, in 2003, The Well’s On Fire

For the encore, 52 minutes from Rockpalast in 1976! Procol Harem at Rockpalast 1976

Thanks for the imagery across the years, Keith. You opened my young mind to what poetry could be way back when!

Now as I promised you, the lyrics to “Conquistador,” "A Christmas Camel," and “Homburg.”

Conquistador

Conquistador your stallion stands
in need of company
and like some angel's haloed brow
you reek of purity
I see your armour-plated breast
has long since lost its sheen
and in your death mask face
there are no signs which can be seen

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind

Conquistador a vulture sits
upon your silver shield
and in your rusty scabbard now
the sand has taken seed
and though your jewel-encrusted blade
has not been plundered still
the sea has washed across your face
and taken of its fill

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind

Conquistador there is no time
I must pay my respect
and though I came to jeer at you
I leave now with regret
and as the gloom begins to fall
I see there is no, only all
and though you came with sword held high
you did not conquer, only die

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind

Lyrics © T.R.O. INC.

A Christmas Camel

My Amazon six-triggered bride
Now searching for a place to hide
Still sees the truth quite easily
But shrouds all else in mystery
While madmen in top hats and tails
Impale themselves on six-inch nails
And some Arabian also-ran
Impersonates a watering can

Some Santa Claus-like face of note
Entreats my ears to set afloat
My feeble sick and weary brain
And I am overcome with shame
And hide inside my overcoat
And hurriedly begin to quote
While some Arabian sheikh most grand
Impersonates a hot-dog stand

The Red Cross ambulance outside
Can only mean that I must hide
'Til dusk and finally the night
When I will make a hasty flight
Across the sea and far away
To where the weary exiles stay
And some Arabian oil-well
Impersonates a padded cell

Lyrics © T.R.O. INC.

Homburg

Your multilingual business friend
Has packed her bags and fled
Leaving only ash-filled ashtrays
And the lipsticked unmade bed

The mirror on reflection
Has climbed back upon the wall
For the floor she found descended
And the ceiling was too tall

Your trouser cuffs are dirty
And your shoes are laced up wrong
You'd better take off your homburg
'cos your overcoat is too long

The town clock in the market square
Stands waiting for the hour
When its hands they both turn backwards
And on meeting will devour

Both themselves and also any fool
Who dares to tell the time
And the sun and moon will shatter
And the signposts cease to sign

Your trouser cuffs are dirty
And your shoes are laced up wrong
You'd better take off your homburg
'cos your overcoat is too long

Lyrics © T.R.O. INC.

Article © Copyright 2022 Robert Wilkinson

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