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the FAQ
Welcome to Jack Ponissi's Procol Harum songbook!
These pages contain the vastest and most detailed collection of
resources for musicians
attempting to perform the material of Procol Harum, with chords,
scores, lyrics and links to multiple versions for over 40 Procol
Harum songs provided free of charge.
The site was started by Hammond Organ player and composer Carlo
"Jack" Ponissi in 2010 to provide a valid reference in playing
Procol Harum music to the newly started band that would eventually
become SormoRock.
While it is still used for the same reason (henceforth the inclusion of
some original SormoRock material and occasional references to SormoRock
arrangements), the pages are now available
worldwide; if you are a fellow musicians trying to play this material
you
will find them very valuable. Given that everything was
started with an Italian public in mind a few pages may still contain
some
Italian, altough most of the site has been translated by now.
Each composition has its own subpages containing chords, basslines,
partitures and links to various versions that can be listened online.
While I try to be as precise as possibile while taking down the songs
please understand that most of the work is done by hear, so you will
probably encounter errors from time to time. If you do so, please
contact me. Since this is a work in progress and I'm learning as I go,
newer stuff is often more precise than older pages.
Also understand that there are a lot of external links on this
site and I have no control on those, so it can happen that a
version of a piece that was online at the time I wrote a given page
won't be up anymore when you try to check it out. Links in italic are under my control and
don't usually go down.
If you find errors or broken links, or if you happen to have any sort
of additional material regarding the music of Procol Harum (or related
artists, such Gary Brooker, Matthew
Fisher, Keith Reid and Robin Trower) please contact
me.
Also, if you are here you'll probably like Beyond The Pale, the Procol
Harum "semi-official" site. And check out the SormoRock site of course, there
you'll be able to listen to a lot of live recordings of the only Procol
Harum-based live band in Europe and you can also buy our album, Slidin' On The Sand, directly from me. In
2013 I've built a second formation in Berlin under the name Spirit of
SormoRock and SormoRock is now a band that's
based both there and Turin, Italy, we accept
booking enquiries for the whole Europe,
so, if you are
interested in booking a rocking live band that can
actually bring on stage this
unusual, immortal, music write
me a mail.
Also, if you're on Facebook you might be interested in joining the Procol Harum group
I admin there, some members of the original band, past and present,
also take part in the discussion from time to time.
Thanks to Larry Pennisi, Antonio Costa Barbé, Hermann Braunschmidt,
Roland Clare, Evan Wagshul and all the
others that have somehow contributed to these pages, keep on doing good
music!
NEWS
2023-11-14
-Added a couple of chords that for some reason were missing to the A Real Attitude parts.
2023-11-06
-Added the piano part for A Real Attitude.
-Corrected a couple of minor mistakes in the A Real Attitude bassline file.
-Double checked the words of A Real Attitude against both existing recordings and updated the related page.
-Updated the FAQs.
2023-11-05
-Added A Real Attitude.
2023-10-19
-Updated links on the pages for A Christmas Camel, A Salty Dog and A Whiter Shade of Pale.
2023-10-17
-Corrected a couple of minor mistakes on the Fires piano part, now at version 1.2.
2023-10-16
-Completely redone the
Cerdes and Quite Rightly So bassline files to switch them to the proper
keys.
-Rewritten the Prelude partiture for Repent Walpurgis to make it easier
to read.
-Rewritten the piano part of Fires Wich Burnt Brightly to make it much easier to
read.
2023-10-06
-Completely redone the A
Christmas Camel bassline file, now at version 2.
This, like all the new PDFs going forward is
in the proper key and no longer in concert pitch.
2023-09-24
-Improved the A
Christmas Camel bassline file, now at version 1.1.
2023-07-05
-The C#m and G#m chords in the The Only One bassline file were
incorrectly written as major for some reason, fixed in version 1.1
(thanks Max!).
-Added a transcription of how Gary Brooker used to play the verse and
chorus of A Whiter Shade of Pale while performing it solo or doing the
first verse with orchestras.
2023-04-03
-Updated the Pandora's Box bassline and chords file to version 4.
2023-01-21
-Fixed a few minor errors on the A Christmas Camel lyrics
page.
2022-12-23
-Fixed a broken link on the Cerdes page.
-Added new links to the Cerdes page.
2022-12-14
-Fixed broken links and added versions to the An Old English
Dream page.
-Fixed a broken link on the Boredom page.
-Fixed broken links and added versions to the Bringing Home the
Bacon page.
2022-12-13
-Added the London 2017 version of Pandora's Box.
2022-11-21
-There was a missing natural sign in the Simple Sister PDFs,
fixed.
2022-11-14
-Fixed broken links and added many new versions to the A Whiter
Shade of Pale page.
2022-11-06
-Fixed broken links and added new versions to the A Salty Dog
page.
-Modified this page and the FAQ.
2022-11-05
-Fixed broken links and added new versions to the Cerdes page.
2022-11-04
-Totally revamped the Missing Persons page, adding a bassline
and chords file and adding details both to the words and the chords
pages, also linking the newly uploaded Hagen 2009 version.
2022-10-30
-Added a link to the Union Chapel 2003 version of The Question.
2022-08-01
-Added In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence.
2022-02-28
-Rip Gary :(.
-Updated the Missing Persons Pages to add the EP.
2021-03-28
-Added Missing Persons. This page and the War is Not Healty one will be
released once the new
EP is released in may.
-Updated links on the War is not Healty page.
-Translated an overlooked detail on the Homburg page.
-Updated links on the A Christmas Camel page.
-Updated links on the A Salty Dog Page.
2020-05-05
-Corrected a minor oversight on the Holding On page.
-Added Sunday Morning.
2020-05-02
-Added a piano part for Holding On.
-Slight improvement to the Holding On bassline file, now at version 1.1.
-traslated a long-standing oversight on the Simple Sister page.
-Added a FAQ entry about lyrics.
2020-04-30
-Totally revamped the Holding On page.
-Added a proper bassline and chords file for Holding On.
-Double checked and corrected the lyrics for Holding On.
-Added lyrics for the Covid-19 version of Holding On.
2020-03-18
-Updated the piano part for Simple Sister, now at 1.1. An Ab was
a G+ by mistake, also improved layout.
-Updated this page and the FAQ.
2020-02-06
-Added a piano part for Simple Sister and the relative midi file.
-Corrected a few details on the Simple Sister bassline and chords file,
now at version 1.4.
-Fixed a few dead links on the Simple Sister page and added a few more.
2019-08-08
-Added a piano part for Skip Softly.
-Corrected a small error on the Skip Softly piano part: G chord was
missing on bar 17.
2019-07-08
-Added Skip Softly.
2019-02-28
-Added a piano arrangement for The Only One. It is intended for
a traditional SormoRock lineup (band but no guitar).
2018-03-09
-Added Power Failure.
2018-02-10
-Improved the chords notation on the A Whiter Shade of Pale
bassline file, now at version 4.2.
2017-10-04
-Corrected a few imprecisions on the She Wandered Through the
Garden Fence bassline;
-Checked the words of She Wandered Through the Garden Fence and
corrected a couple of minor mistakes in them;
-Garden Fence has now a separate lyrics page, as most numbers;
-Fixed a few broken links on the Garden Fence page, added the Atlanta
2014 version and the SormoRock Biella one and translated the page
(finally!).
2017-09-28
-Bar 17 of the Pandora's Box bassline file repoorted an F chord,
the correct chord is F7. Fixed.
2017-09-24
-Fixed a couple of minor errors in the VIP Room's bassline.
2017-07-25
-Added The Only One.
-Slightly updated the bassline part for The Blink of an Eye (v1.1),
also adding the details of the arpeggios.
-Updated and translated the page for The Blink of an Eye.
2017-07-20
-There were a few Eb notes that should have been natural Es and
a Cm that was supposed to be major on the Simple Sister part. fixed.
-Added a detailed part of the bassline of the solos of Fires.
2017-06-29
-Corrected a few mistakes on the Simple Sister part.
2017-06-22
-Added Crucifiction Lane;
-Corrected the Dead Man's Dream words page.
2017-06-16
-Updated the New Lamps For Old Page, adding new links.
2017-06-11
-Added The Dead Man's Dream (in collaboration with Antonio Costa
Barbé).
2016-10-30
-Added Toujours l'Amour.
-Updated this page and added the FAQ.
2016-07-28
-Totally revameped The Truth Won't Fade Away's page, also adding
a proper bassline file.
2016-06-15
-Fixed broken links and added a few versions to the Grand Hotel
page.
2016-05-21
-Fixed a broken link in the Conquistador page and added a few
versions.
-Same for the Fires page.
-Translated the Fires Wich Burnt brightly page to English.
2016-05-20
-Fixed broken link and added the London 2014 version to the An
old English Dream page.
-Fixed broken link on the Bringing Home The bacon Page and added an
alternate link.
2015-12-03
-Fixed an error on the Memorial Drive guitar part, now at
version 1.1. The piano part will need fixing as well.
-Updated the Memorial Drive page with a few links.
2015-11-20
-Readded the original versions of Cerdes, Weisselklenzenacht and
Still There'll Be More to their pages;
-Created an "Extra" section for the Procol related but not strictly
Procol Harum songs, such as solo efforts;
-Moved Separation to the Extra section;
-Added Fading Away to the Extra section.
2015-11-11
-Updated the A Whiter Shade of Pale bassline to version 4.1;
-Updated the A Whiter Shade of Pale page.
2015-10-01
-Corrected an error on bar 17 of the Shine On Brightly piano
part, now at version 3.1.
2015-07-02
-Added The Devil Came From Kansas.
2015-06-30
-Added a links to a few more versions to the A Salty Dog page.
2015-04-28
-Redone the Cerdes bassline file and pages.
2015-03-03
-Added bass and organ patterns on the Repent Walpurgis page.
2015-02-27
-Corrected a few errors on Simple Sister.
2015-02-18
-Chord on bar 3 of the homburg scores had somehow become Ddim
instead of Bdim, fixed on both bassline and piano score files;
-Added detail to the Homburg bassline file and translated it to
english, now at version 3.5.
2015-02-17
-Added Simple Sister.
2015-02-15
-Fixed broken links on the Whisky train page.
2015-02-03
-Added Still There'll be More.
2014-12-03
-Added chord details to the Wall Street Blues Page.
2014-11-18
-Added the Spirit of SormoRock Artenschutztheater 2014 version
of Pandora's Box to the Pandora's box page.
2014-11-13
-Updated this page.
2014-11-01
-Added "Memorial Drive".
2014-10-27
-Corrected the title of the The VIP Room page.
2014-10-26
-Changed a couple of chords in the middle part of The VIP Room.
Bassline & Chords file now at version 1.1.
2014-10-25
-Added The VIP Room.
-Title on the lyrics page for As Strong As Samson was wrong,
Fixed.
2014-09-04
-Link to he Lyrics page for Wall Street Blues was broken. Fixed.
2014-08-13
-Redone the As Strong as Samson Bassline and added a piano part,
now both following the SormoRock arrangement (but easy to use with any
version);
-Removed the link to the Union Chapel performance of The Question and
Samson: video went down and no alternate sources currently available
2014-08-03
-Updated the piano part of The Signature, still at a draft stage.
2014-08-01
-Changed the coda and the solo chords on The Signature, now at
version 4.2 and probably as originally written by the composer.
2014-07-06
-Changed a chord from Dm to D7 on the Conquistador parts.
-Updated the Conquistador pages to replace broken links.
2014-07-01
-Updated the Homburg page adding a few more links.
2014-06-29
-Updated the Weisselklenzenacht bassline and chords file to
version 4.1. Ending chords are now correct. Hopefully.
2014-06-13
-Fixed broken links on the Bringing Home The Bacon and Wizard
Man pages.
2014-06-10
-Revised the bassline and chords file for Weisselklenzenacht,
now at version 4.
-Translated and updated the Weisselklenzenacht page.
-Added a first draft, still incomplete, of a piano part score for
Weisselklenzenacht.
-Updated this file.
-Removed the Tarritown 2010 link from the War Is Not Healthy page: it
was in fact the same performarce officially released on MMX, so I had no choice apart of
taking it down.
2014-06-07
-Completely redid the New Lamps For Old pages and PDF, now at
version 3.
2014-05-13
-Added Wall Street Blues.
-Added links to the Union Chapel Performance on the Grand Hotel, The
Question, As Strong as Samson and Whisky Train pages.
-Corrected the title of the War Is Not Healthy page.
2014-05-10
-Added Whisky Train.
2014-03-24
-Added War is Not Healthy.
2014-03-07
-Added Salad Days.
2014-02-27
-Added Kaleidoscope.
2014-02-24
-Corrected a minor oversight on The Question.
2014-02-12
-Added The Question.
2014-01-30
-Added Grand Hotel
2014-01-27
-Added a piano part arrangement partiture for Homburg,
translated and updated the page.
2014-01-13
-Added a transcription of the first piano solo to the About To
Die page.
2013-11-26
-Completely rewritten the piano part for Conquistador, now at
version 2 and based onto the Live at The Union Chapel (2003) version.
-Updated the text of this very page.
2013-11-25
-Updated the McGreggor bassline file with revised chords, now at
version 2.1. Thanks to Roland Clare for his insights on this one.
-Translated and updated the McGreggor pages.
2013-11-16
-Added a transcription of the original piano solo to the An Old
English Drean page.
2013-11-06
-Added On The Sand to the SormoRock section, two valid variants
of the basslines are on the page.
2013-11-05
-Corrected a timing issue on the Bringing Home The Bacon
bassline file, now at version 2.1.
-Added a piano part for Bringing Home The Bacon
2013-11-04
-Updated and traslated tthe Pandora's Box bassline file, now at
version 3.
2013-10-31
-Updated and traslated the Samson page.
2013-10-28
-Updated and traslated the Shine On Brightly bassline, now at version 3.
-Added a piano part for Shine On Brightly.
-Updated and traslated the Shine On Birghtly page.
2013-10-25
-Added a "SormoRock" section at the bottom of the page containing
original SormoRock numbers.
Added "M Back" to the
"SormoRock" section. Bassline and Chords file, words and the original
2011 home studio sequenced test recording.
2013-09-23
-Translated and updated the "Wizard Man" page.
2013-09-20
-Translated and updated the "Repent Walpurgis" page.
2013-09-14
-Translated the "Quite Rightly So" page.
2013-08-31
-Updated and translated the "Cerdes" page.
-Updated and translated the "Conquistador" page.
2013-08-28
-Updated and translated the "Pandora's Box" pages.
2013-08-23
-Updated the piano part for "A Whiter Shade of Pale", now at version 2.
-Now available the first MIDI file ever on the site: the piano part for
"A Whiter Shade of Pale".
2013-08-20
-Updated the Bringing Home The Bacon bassline file, now at version 2.
2013-08-10
-Translated and updated the "A Whiter Shade of Pale" page.
-Translated the "About To Die" page.
-Translated the "Boredom" page.
-Translated and updated the "Bringing Home the Bacon" page.
2013-08-07
-Completely revised the A Salty Dog Piano Part, now at version 2.
2013-08-06
- Added a "structure" line into the Salty Dog Bassline file, now at
v3.2.
2013-08-05
-A wrong chord somehow got into bar 8 of the A Salty Dog Bassline file.
Fixed and updated to v3.1.
2013-08-01
-Significantly updated to version 3 the bassline for A Salty Dog. It's
also the first PDF in english.
2013-06-27
-Took the decision to translate the whole site to English. Will take
time, especially for the PDFs…
-Translated the "An Old English Dream" page.
-Translated the "A Christmas Camel" page.
-Translated and extended the "A Salty Dog" page
-Fixed a couple of minor inconsistencies in the "An Old English Dream"
bassline.
2013-06-26
-Added An Old English Dream.
2013-05-24
-Fixed a broken link on the A Salty Dog page.
2013-02-10
-Added Quite Rightly So.
2012-12-03
-Minor corrections to McGreggor's lyrics.
2012-11-25
-Improved the "Bringing Home the Bacon" bassline (now version
1.1).
2012-11-24
-Updated the "Bringing Home the Bacon" page with a few more
versions
of the song. Now missing the original version.
2012-11-19
-Updated the "Pandora" page with a few more versions
of the song.
2012-11-18
-Updated the "Shine on Brightly" page with a few more versions
of the song.
2012-04-24
-Added link to the Redhill performance of Homburg.
-Adde link to the Barbican performance of Repent Walpurgis.
2012-04-23
-Added chords signs to Samson piano partiture.
-Fixed a fem minor errors on Samson bassline.
2012-03-30
-Updated Samson piano partiture.
-Added Tarrytown 2010's performance of Samson.
2012-03-25
-Updated homburg bassline to version 3 (a couple of inexact bass notes
were there), now completely based on the single version. Version 2 was
probably the oldest thing up here, harking back into half 2010…
2012-03-24
-Added this file.
-Updated As Strong As samson to 1.2: bar 12 is now Bm7/A, not D/A.
-Updated She Wandered To Through the Garden fence: bar 7 was
incorrectly labeled A instead of Am.
-Fixed a few dead links.
Still To Do
-Add details to Garden Fence.
-Improve the "Blink of an Eye" part.
-Translate all the HTML pages.
-Translate all the PDFs.
-Redo the "Fires Wich Burnt Brightly" piano partiture.
-C/A chord on AWSoP bar 2 should read Am.
-Check the chords on samson - there is an error in there!
-Redo the About To Die bassline - won't fix.
-Add more numbers!