There are some songs that were bigger, sometimes a Billboard hit, in their concert recorded version. They may have a studio-recorded counterpart but the live version, in this case, was bigger. I’ll stay away from the ones that have a “fake” live audience. The last criteria, it has to be a favorite of mine.
“Conquistador”, the live version, was the only way I had heard the song until sometime in the early 2000s when I purchased “The First Four Legendary Albums”, the 2003 Metro Music (UK) 2-CD Procol Harum box. I liked the studio version and I’ll include it below. Robin Trower was the guitarist, for the band, when the studio version was recorded.
“Conquistador” is a song by Procol Harum written by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid. It was originally on the band’s 1967 self-titled debut album. It was released as a single from their 1972 live album “Procol Harum Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra”.
My single was “A Salty Dog/Conquistador” (AM-1347) released in April of 1972. The credits were Orchestra – The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra with producer – Chris Thomas. “Salty Dog” runs 5:37 and “Conquistador” 4:16.
Live Version
- Gary Brooker – piano and vocals
- Dave Ball – guitar
- Chris Copping – organ
- Alan Cartwright – bass guitar
- B.J. Wilson – drums
- Keith Reid – lyrics
Conquistadors were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa, and Asia, colonizing and opening trade routes. They brought much of the Americas under the dominion of Spain and Portugal.
The single was Procol Harum’s third Top 40 hit, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard charts. The narrator of “Conquistador” addresses the body of a dead conquistador lying on a beach, no doubt partially embedded in the sand and obviously not long after death, or the corpse would not attract a vulture, nor would the “stallion” still be nearby.
He at first jeers at the irony of the failure of the Conquistador’s imagined mission, and the desolation of the scene and his corpse, but on reflection regrets his mockery and offers pity for the lonely and futile fate of the conquistador, “You did not conquer, only die.” The refrain consists of the morose couplet:
And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
with which the selection closes just before its instrumental trumpet coda, which gives it a mariachi-esque but mournful sound. The trumpet solo is played by principal trumpet Ed Nixon.
Lyrics – Conquistador
Conquistador your stallion stands in need of company
And like some angel's haloed brow
You reek of purity
I see your armor plated breast
Has long since lost its sheen
And in your death masked face
There are no signs which can be seen
And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
Conquistador a vulture sits, upon your silver sheath
And in your rusty scabbard now, the sand has taken seed
And though your jewel-encrusted blade
Has not been plundered still
The sea has washed across your face
And taken of its fill
And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
Conquistador there is no time, I must pay my respect
And though I came to jeer at you
I leave now with regret
And as the gloom begins to fall
I see there is no, only all
And though you came with sword held high
You did not conquer, only die
And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind
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