Whiter Shade of Pale is most played song

A year after Gary Brooker, lead singer of the Sixties band Procol Harum, won a famous High Court victory to regain full rights to the royalties from A Whiter Shade of Pale, a chart compiled for BBC Radio 2 reveals that the massive worldwide hit single is the most played song in public of the past
75 years.

The single of A Whiter Shade of Pale, with its distinctive organ riff, stayed at number one for six weeks in June/July 1967. It sold 10 million copies and became the pop anthem for the so-called 'summer of love'. And though it slipped from the top spot in the charts, it never really went away: at the last count, there were estimated to have been 800 cover versions recorded.

Brooker, 62, went to court after Matthew Fisher, the classically-trained musician who contributed the famous organ theme, borrowed from Bach, claimed co-ownership of the royalty rights. But the judge dismissed his case, saying that Fisher, now a computer programmer, was "guilty of excessive and inexcusable delay in asserting his claim".

The complete Top Ten of the Most Played Songs, compiled for Radio 2 by PPL, looks like this:

1. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale 2. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody 3. Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream 4. Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around 5. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You 6. Robbie Williams - Angels 7. Elvis Presley - All Shook Up 8. Abba - Dancing Queen 9. Perry Como - Magic Moments 10. Bing Crosby - White Christmas

Brooker said that topping the chart was a "great and unsought honour",
adding: "It isn't something I could have remotely imagined when I wrote the song." ·