A Whiter Shade of Confusion

It seems that I'm not the only one prone to mishearing or misreading news reports and imagining a whole alternative story. Last weekend my younger brother told me that he had found himself confused by reports from Nigeria, which seemed to claiming that sixties proto-prog rockers Procol Harum had turned to terrorism and were engaged in a bombing campaign against Nigerian churches. He eventually realised that the reports were actually referring to the Islamic sect Boko Haram. Mind you, it's an easy mistake to make, confusing Procol Harum with Boko Haram, as I realised when watching a report about the Nigerian President's reaction to the bombings. For instance, he claimed that Boko Haram had links with other groups - just like Procol Harum, with its constantly-changing line-up, recruited from other groups. He also said of the terror group: "They operate without a face, they operate without a clear identity, so it is difficult to interface with such a group." Again, a fair description of Procol Harum in their heyday.

Of course, there are plenty of differences, too. I don't recall Boko Haram ever supporting Jimi Hendrix on tour, for instance. Moreover, to the best of my knowledge no Islamacist terror group has ever had a top ten hit, let alone a number one single. One also has to ask as to whether it is at all credible that 1960s pop act would be engaged in a campaign of terror in Africa. Well, one has to say that their most recent output hasn't exactly set the world on fire and they haven't released an album since 2003. If I didn't think that I might be sued, I could speculate that the bombings are part of a publicity campaign gone badly wrong. I might also point out that the lyrics of their first and best known hit, 'A Whiter Shade of Pale', could be construed as having racist connotations. But that would be ridiculous, so I won't do either of those things. If nothing else, this whole Procol Harum/Boko Haram business has reassured me that this sort of semantic confusion isn't unique to me. It clearly runs in the family.