On the album Procol Harum
(1967), also known in Italy as Fortuna
The composition is based around a simple four chords progression: C
minor; A flat/Eb; D minor
seven flat five; G, the middle part comes from the Prelude 1 in C Major
of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier Bach but the last bar played has been
modified.
"D minor seven flat five" is basically an F minor chord over a D bass,
the G is also often played as G7.
Starting in the 90's Procol Harum started to add a definite bass
pattern near the end of the song, also doubled by the piano at some
point.
Since the late '60s Matthew Fisher started to play a somewhat variable
organ pattern near the end.
Bass pattern near the end: C D Eb C | Eb F G EB | D Eb F Ab | G Eb D C
Organ pattern near the end: CM Fm/D Eb Cm | Ab/Eb Bb/F Cm/G Ab/Eb |
Fm/D Cm/Eb Bb/F
Ab | G Fm Eb Fm/D
Bassline and chords (based on the
original version on the symphonic one and on the recent live versions)
Piano Part: modified prelude in C major
Several versions
seen side by side
Online
resources
Early studio
version (1967)
Original Version
(1967)
Fillmore West 1967
Easter Island
1969
"POP2" TV version,
with the whole prelude (1971, with video)
San Francisco
1991 (with Tim Renwick on guitar)
Edmonton II
1992 (with video)
Symphonic Version
(1995, on the album The Long Goodbye
- Symphonic Music Of Procol Harum)
Barbican 1996 (con orchestra)
Manchester 2001
(with orchestra)
Sopot 2001
Aarhus 2001
Horsens 2001
Copenhagen
2001 (with video)
Copenhagen 2005
Recommended
versions not readily available online
New York (1969)
Napoli (2003)
Sormorock
Versions
Gilgamesh Torino
2011 (with an unknown guest guitar player, with video)
Jazz Club 2012
(with Alfredo Ponissi, Mauro Roasio and Antonio Costa Barbé)
Neruda Torino
2013 (with Alfredo Ponissi)
Wuppertal 2013
(Jack Ponissi with the Palers' Band, improvised on the spot with
Procol's own Geoff Withehorn); Different
take (both with video)
Corner House
2013 (with video; with a longer piano
solo)
Galliate 2013
(with Geoff Withehorn and Antonio Costa Barbé on Organ)