Conquistador - Procol Harum (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

Conquistador (Procol Harum, 1967 & 1972). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2022-03-24. "Keeping the Oldies Alive"

"Conquistador," written by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid, was Procol Harum's second and last top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart rising to #16 in 1972 (Whitburn, 2013). This charted version was a live version of the song backed by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; the original much slower recorded version was from the group's first self-titled album in 1967 (Whitburn, 2006). According to Reid, the two would usually begin writing with Reid producing the lyrics and then Brooker finding the music to attach to the words. This time, however, Brooker was working on some music, and "he said, 'What does this sound like to you?' And I said, 'Oh, conquistador.' It had a little bit of a Spanish flavor to it. I went into another room and started writing the words there and then" (songfacts.com, 2022).

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Lyrics:

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