City of Perth Western Australia
Population:	18,616(2011 est) [1]
Established:	1856
Area:	12.7 km² (4.9 sq mi)
Mayor:	Lisa Scaffidi
Council Seat:	Perth
Region:	Central Perth
State electorate:	Perth
Federal Division:	Perth
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Website: http://www.perth.wa.gov.au
LGAs around City of Perth: Cambridge Vincent Vincent Subiaco City of Perth Belmont Nedlands South Perth Victoria Park

The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth Metropolitan Area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government body is commonly known as Perth City Council. The city covers the Perth central business district and surrounding suburbs. The city covers an area of 12.7 square kilometres (5 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 17,955 as at June 2010.

History[link]

The City of Perth was declared on 20 September 1856. In 1915, it absorbed North Perth (1901) and Leederville (1895) municipalities, and on 1 November 1917, Victoria Park was also absorbed. A year later, it absorbed territory from Perth Road Board including the Belmont Park racecourse. By 1962, the council had 27 members representing nine wards.^[2]

On 1 July 1994, following the passage of the City of Perth Restructuring Act (1993), the City of Perth was broken up and a revised (and significantly reduced) City of Perth, Town of Victoria Park, Town of Cambridge and Town of Vincent were created. The first elections were held on 6 May 1995, with 8 councillors and a mayor.

Wards[link]

The city has 8 councillors and no wards. Each councillor serves a four-year term, and half-elections are held every two years. The mayor is directly elected.

Suburbs[link]

• Perth*
• East Perth*
• Northbridge
• West Perth*

* The parts of these suburbs north of Newcastle and Summers Streets fall within the City of Vincent.

Population[link]

The 1991 population has been broken down by the ABS as follows: Perth (C) 7,604; Cambridge (T) 22,740; Victoria Park (T) 24,313; Vincent (T) 24,765.^[3]

Sister cities[link]

• Kagoshima, 1974
• Houston, 1984
• Rhodes, 1984
• Megisti, 1984
• San Diego, 1987
• Vasto, 1989
• Nanjing, 1998
• Taipei, 1999

See also[link]

• List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of Perth
• Perth, Western Australia

References[link]

External links[link]

• City of Perth website

Coordinates: 31°57′S 115°51′E / 31.95°S 115.85°E / -31.95; 115.85

Look up Perth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Perth generally refers to:

• Perth, Scotland, City and the administrative centre of the Perth and Kinross council area (and from which all uses ultimately derive)
• Perth, Western Australia, the capital of Western Australia

Perth may also refer to:

Places[link]

Australia

• Perth, the capital of Western Australia (see top of page), and Perth (suburb), the city's central business district
• Perth, Tasmania, a small town in Tasmania

Canada

• Perth-Andover, a village in New Brunswick
• Perth, Ontario, a town in Ontario

Scotland

• Perth, a city in Scotland (see top of page)

United States

• Perth Amboy, New Jersey, a city in New Jersey
• Perth, Delaware, an unincorporated community in Delaware
• Perth, Indiana, an unincorporated town in Indiana
• Perth, New York, a town in New York
• Perth, North Dakota, a city in North Dakota
• Perth Township, North Dakota, a township in North Dakota

Political and legal divisions[link]

Australia

• City of Perth, a local government area of Western Australia
• Division of Perth, a seat in the Australian House of Representatives
• Electoral district of Perth, a seat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
• Greater Perth, an urban planning region
• Perth County, a former cadastral unit of Western Australia
• Perth Metropolitan Region, an urban planning region

Canada

• Perth (electoral district), a former federal electoral district in Ontario
• Perth—Middlesex, a former former federal and provincial
• Perth—Wellington, a federal electoral district in Ontario
• Perth—Wellington (provincial electoral district), a provincial electoral district in Ontario
• Perth—Wellington—Waterloo, a former federal electoral district in Ontario

Scotland

• County of Perth, or Perthshire, a registration county, and formerly a local government county, from 1890 to 1975
• Perth and Kinross, a unitary council area from 1996 to the present
• Perth and Kinross (UK Parliament constituency), a Parliament of the United Kingdom constituency from 1983 to 1997
• Perth Burghs (UK Parliament constituency), a Parliament of the United Kingdom constituency from 1708 to 1832
• Perth (Scottish Parliament constituency), a Scottish Parliament constituency from 1999 to the present
• Perth (UK Parliament constituency), a Parliament of the United Kingdom constituency from 1832 to 1950 and again from 1997 to 2005

Geographical features[link]

• 3953 Perth, an asteroid
• Perth Basin, a sedimentary basin in Western Australia
• Perth River, a river in New Zealand

People[link]

• Duke of Perth, a title in the Jacobite peerage
• Earl of Perth, a title in the Scottish peerage

Military[link]

• Blackburn Perth, a British long-range military flying boat
• HMAS Perth, any of three ships of the Royal Australian Navy
• Perth class destroyer, a class of warship used by the Royal Australian Navy
• The Perth Regiment, former regiment of the Canadian Army

Other[link]

• MV Perth, the oldest surviving wooden boat in Western Australia
• Perth (film), 2004 Singaporean film
• Perth (HM Prison), a Scottish prison

This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart^[1] on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached #5 on the US charts, as well. It is one of the fewer than 30 all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) copies worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

With its haunting Bach-flavoured instrumental melody, soulful vocals, and unusual lyrics—by the song's co-authors Gary Brooker, Keith Reid,^[2] and Matthew Fisher-- "A Whiter Shade of Pale" reached #1 in several countries when released in 1967. In the years since, it has become an enduring classic. It was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the UK (as of 2009),^[3] and the United Kingdom performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years.^[4] Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed "A Whiter Shade of Pale" #57 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

More than 1000 recorded cover versions by other artists are known.^[5] The song has been included in many music compilations over the decades and has also been used in the soundtracks of numerous films, including The Big Chill, Purple Haze, Breaking the Waves, The Boat That Rocked and notably in Martin Scorsese's segment of New York Stories. Cover versions of the song have also been featured in many films, for example by King Curtis in Withnail and I and by Annie Lennox in The Net.

The original writing credits were for Brooker and Reid only. On 30 July 2009, Matthew Fisher won co-writing credit for the music in a unanimous ruling from the Law Lords.

Recording and personnel[link]

The song was performed and recorded at Olympic Studios in London, England with Gary Brooker providing the vocals and piano, Matthew Fisher on a Hammond M-102 organ, David Knights on bass and Ray Royer on guitar. Drums were by session drummer Bill Eyden. A few days later, the song was re-recorded with the band's then newly-recruited drummer Bobby Harrison. That version, though, was considered inferior^{[citation needed]} and one of the original mono recordings was chosen for release.

Producer for the record was Denny Cordell and Keith Grant was the sound engineer.^[6]

The song was included on the original U.S. release of the Procol Harum album, but not on the UK version.

Lyrics[link]

Reid got the title and the starting point for the song at a party. He overheard someone at the party saying to a woman, "You've turned a whiter shade of pale," and the phrase stuck in his mind.^[7][8] The original lyrics had four verses, of which only two are heard on the original recording. The third verse has been heard in live performances by Procol Harum, and more seldom also the fourth.^[9] The author of Procol Harum: beyond the pale, Claes Johansen, suggests that the song "deals in metaphorical form with a male/female relationship which after some negotiation ends in a sexual act."^[8] This is supported by Tim de Lisle in Lives of the Great Songs, who remarks that the lyrics concern a drunken seduction, which is described through references to sex as a form of travel, usually nautical, using mythical and literary journeys.^[10] Other observers have also commented that the lyrics concern a sexual relationship.^[7]

Structurally and thematically, the song is unusual in many respects. While the recorded version is 4:03 long, it is composed of only two verses, each with chorus. The piece is also more instrument-driven than most songs of the period, and with a much looser rhyme scheme. Its unusually allusive and referential lyrics are much more complex than most lyrics of the time (for example, the chorus focuses on Chaucer's The Miller's Tale). Thus, this piece can be thought of as a forerunner to the progressive rock that would reach its zenith about ten years later.

The phrase a whiter shade of pale has since gained widespread use in the English language, noticed by several dictionaries.^[11][12][13] As such, the phrase is today often used in contexts independent of any consideration of the song. (See ^[14] for many annotated examples complete with links to original sources.) It has also been heavily paraphrased, in forms like an Xer shade of Y--this to the extent that it has been recognised^[15][16] as a snowclone – a type of cliché and phrasal template.

Composition[link]

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. Both the vocal and the organ accompaniment reach a crescendo at the beginning of the chorus "And so it was, and later ..."; where the organist rapidly runs his finger down and up the entire keyboard. The final instrumental fades out to silence - a common device in pop music of the time.

The Hammond organ line of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's "Sleepers, Wake!" and "Air on the G String" - both of which use a similar stepwise bass motion. But contrary to popular belief, the song is not a direct copy or paraphrase of any music by Bach,^[17] although it makes clear references to both pieces. This similarity is referred to in the 1982 play The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard and the 1991 film The Commitments. A yet closer melodic influence that is seldom cited can arguably^{[weasel words]} be found in the organ choral prelude "O Mensch bewein dein' Sünde groß" (O Man, Lament Your Sin So Great), BWV 622, from Bach's Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book). The music also borrows ideas from "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge.^[18]

Reception[link]

The single was released on 12 May 1967 by Deram Records and entered the UK charts on 25 May. In two weeks it reached number one where it stayed for six weeks, and on the UK chart for a total of 15 weeks. A May 1972 re-release on Fly Records stayed in the UK charts for a total of 12 weeks, and reached number 13 as highest. In the US, it reached #5 and sold over one million copies. In the Netherlands it entered the chart at number one in June 1967 and again reached number one in July 1972.

Chart positions: # 1 (UK), # 1 (the Netherlands), # 1 (Germany), # 1 (Ireland), # 1 (Australia), # 1 (World), # 3 (Norway VG-lista), # 5 (USA Hot 100). "A Whiter Shade of Pale" also managed to peak at number twenty-two on the soul charts in the U.S.^[19]

Over time, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" has earned extensive critical acclaim:

• John Lennon was a great fan of the song and was known to have played it repeatedly in his Rolls Royce. When it was released in England, Lennon (and friends in his circle) reportedly confused Brooker's soulful vocals with Steve Winwood, who had popularity at the time with The Spencer Davis Group.
• It was named joint winner (along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", which also uses the word 'fandango') of the Best British Pop Single 1952–1977 at the BRIT Awards, part of Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.
• #57 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.
• British TV station Channel 4 placed the song at #19 in its chart of the 100 greatest number one singles.^[20]

Authorship lawsuit[link]

In 2005, former Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher filed suit in the High Court against Gary Brooker and his publisher, claiming that he co-wrote the music for the song.^[21]

Fisher won the case on 20 December 2006 but was awarded 40% of the composers' share of the music copyright, rather than the 50% he was seeking and was not granted royalties prior to 2005.^[22]

Gary Brooker and publisher Onward Music were granted leave to appeal, and a hearing on the matter was held before a panel of three judges during the week of 1 October 2007. The decision, on 4 April 2008, by Lord Justice Mummery, in the Court of Appeal upheld Fisher's co-authorship^[23] but ruled that he should receive no royalties as he had taken too long (38 years) to bring his claim to litigation. Full royalty rights were returned to Brooker.^[24]

On 5 November 2008, Matthew Fisher was granted permission to appeal this decision to the House of Lords.^[25] Lawyers say it is the first time the Law Lords have been asked to rule on a copyright dispute involving a song.^[26] The appeal was heard in the House of Lords on 22–23 April 2009.^[27]

On 30 July 2009 the Law Lords unanimously ruled in Fisher's favour. They noted that the delay in bringing the case had not caused any harm to the other party; on the contrary they had benefited financially from it. They also pointed out that there were no time limits to copyright claims under English law. The right to future royalties was therefore returned to Fisher.^[28][29] The musicological basis of the judgment, and its effect on the rights of musicians who contribute composition to future works, has drawn some attention in the music world.^[30]

Video[link]

The first video for the song was shot in the ruins of Witley Court in Worcestershire, England.^[31] The Witley Court video features four of the five musicians who played on the hit single: Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher, David Knights and Ray Royer, in performance and walking through the ruins. Only the drummer in the video isn't on the record: early band member Bobby Harrison is seen miming to session man Bill Eyden's drumming. According to Shindig! Magazine's Procol Harum cover story by Alan Robinson (November–December 2009 issue – page 55), the video was directed by Peter Clifton whose insertion of Vietnam War newsreel footage caused it to be banned from airplay on the "Top of the Pops" TV show. The band subsequently made another video using "Scopitone" technology, but by this time, Robin Trower and B.J. Wilson had replaced Royer and Harrison in the band, so only three of the five musicians on the recording are represented, and no performance footage included – only the five musicians cavorting around London, running across fields, etc. This lineup, with Fisher in a monk's cowl, also mimed to the song on Top of the Pops, (though Gary Brooker sang live) and black and white footage of this performance has been shown online, perhaps constituting the third video of the song from 1967. (See also its inclusion on the 'Top of the Pops 40th Anniversary 1964–2004 DVD'.)

There was also a video shot as part of Joel Gallen's Deja-View music video series.^[32] Originally airing on various networks in late 1985 through 1986, this video starred Harry Dean Stanton and Bernie Taupin, but featured no member of the band. It has also aired on VH1 Classic, and has recently surfaced online.^[33][34]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bill Eyden Obituary
• Procol Harum — A Whiter Shade Of Pale, live video from Eagle Rock Entertainment's official channel on YouTube
• A Whiter Shade of Pale: authorised lyrics of all four verses

Councillor Lisa Scaffidi
55th Lord Mayor of Perth
Incumbent
Assumed office October 2007
Deputy	Michael Sutherland
Preceded by	Peter Nattrass
Personal details
Born	(1960-02-12) 12 February 1960 (age 52)
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Independent

Lisa Scaffidi (née Sanders) (born 12 February 1960) is the first female lord mayor of Perth, Western Australia. Scaffidi won the seat in the October 2007 council elections following the retirement of her predecessor, Peter Nattrass, after a record twelve years in the position.

Scaffidi was educated at Churchlands Primary School and Methodist Ladies' College after which she graduated as a dental therapist from the WA Institute of Technology (now Curtin University). She served as an air hostess with TAA in 1980, worked in the hospitality industry in a marketing capacity and, in the 1990s, helped to promote export of semi-precious stones. She was the WA state director of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) for over ten years.

She served two terms as a councillor before successfully contesting the lord-mayoralty. She regards the office as a full-time position and aims to maximise her accessibility to constituents.

References[link]

• West Weekend Magazine (West Australian newspaper), 27 October 2007. pp. 8–10
• City slicker

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