# A whiter shade with more verses?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whiter-shade-with-more-verses/304550>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 19, 2005, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whiter-shade-with-more-verses/304550 "2005-05-19T07:57:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whiter-shade-with-more-verses/304550/1 "2005-05-19T07:57:00Z")

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Someone mentioned to me that Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” has more verses than we normally hear on the radio, but that finding said verses on a recording is difficult, as they’d normally only do it live. Does anyone know if there are albums out there that contain the ‘extra’ verses to the song?

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**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whiter-shade-with-more-verses/304550/2 "2005-05-19T09:27:47Z")

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[The lyrics](http://www.procolharum.com/w/w9901.htm) from the official site (Dig the ghostly portraits in the background). It goes on to say:

> [@](#):
>
> The two verses printed here in green are not available on any official record but they have quite often been heard in concert.

You know, I have always loved this song. I play rock organ and do a reasonable job with WSoP. When my former band was doing a cover project, I thought this was the perfect song. No one else in the band agreed and vetoed the song . “Too church-y” was the reason given. None of them recongized it. Same with No Woman, No Cry. And we didn’t have the required horn section for The Ides of March’s “Vehicle”.