Yeah!! The song is in moderate time in C major and is characterised by the bassline moving stepwise downwards in a repeated pattern throughout. In classical music this is known as a ground bass. The harmonic structure is identical for the organ melody, the verse and the chorus, except that the chorus finishes with a cadence. The main organ melody appears at the beginning and after each verse/chorus. But it is also heard throughout, playing variations of its theme and counterpointing the vocal line. As the chorus commences "And so it was, and later ...", the vocal and organ accompaniment begin a short crescendo, with the organist running his finger rapidly down and up the entire keyboard. The final instrumental fades out to silence – a common device in pop music of the time. Classical music expert Maarten 't Hart calls A Whiter Shade of Pale an "original adaptation" of Johann Sebastian Bach's Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, BWV 156.
I'll have to try and remember all that, but somehow doubt I will... The finding of the world's oldest fossils was reported last year - what were they, where and how old?
Comprised of tiny tubes and filaments made of an iron oxide known as haematite, the microfossils are believed to be the remains of bacteria that once thrived underwater around hydrothermal vents, relying on chemical reactions involving iron for their energy. Found in rocks of the Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt in Quebec, Canada thought to have formed between 3.77bn and 4.28bn years ago ?
Why, thank you NZ. I know BB appreciates good pronunciation and it is pleasing to know others do too.
Another 'find' last year was of fossilized stromatolites in Greenland - which were 'probably' created 3.7 Billion years ago. Found by a team of British and Australian geologists - not sure if this had the confirmation you are looking for.
Sounds like it - although the report I read indicated that the calcified layers of stromatolites were found around four years ago, in an outcrop of rocks exposed by increased melting of snow, and recent testing of the layers above and below has 'pinpointed' them as being between 3.69 and 3.71 million years old. Over to you...
Cheers BB. Which city in the World has the largest number of vegetarian restaurants per capita ? Together with a Veggie Thursday where all meals served in schools and all other public service buildings are only vegetarian ?
Portland was a good guess - probably has the highest number in the USA. Berlin is also good for vegetarian eating, but neither are the highest Worldwide. A clue here is that any vegetarian football fans of a famous English club were able to console themselves there - it was also veggie Thursday at the time. If you get bored with the amount of vegetarian food available then another speciality is rabbit in beer sauce.
Over to you Yorkie. Apparently Ghent has the highest ratio of purely vegetarian restaurants to inhabitants in the World. The council decided about 10 years ago to give large tax relief for this to counteract global warming. Also a very nice city to spend a long weekend.
