Lyrics for Whiter Shade Of Pale as interpreted by pablo

Whiter Shade Of Pale Lyrics
We Skipped The Light Fandango
Turned Cartweheels From The Floor
I Was Feeling Kind Of Seasick
But The Crowd Called Out For More
The Room Was Humming Harder
As The Ceiling Threw Away
When We Called Out For Another Drink
The Waiter Brought A Tray

And So It Was That Later
As The Miller Told His Tale
That Her Face At First Just Ghostly
Turned A Whiter Shade Of Pale

She Said There Is No Reason
And The Truth Is Made Of Seam
That I Wonder Through My Plain Clothes
Would Not Let Her Be
One Of Sixteen Vestal Virgins
Who Were Leaving For The Coast
And Although My Eyes Were Open
They Might Just As Well Been Closed

And So It Was That Later
As the Miller Told His Tale
That Her Face At First Just Ghostly
Turned A Whiter Shade Of Pale

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  • 32 Comments
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synchronical
11-05-2004

Rated 0 
I LOVE the StrINGS in the background! I can't believe no one has commented on this song. Great classics edited from Bach's Air for G string.

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traviswrdunbar
03-15-2005

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She said there is no reason
and the truth is plain to see
but I wander through my playing cards
would not let her be

just a correction. It is a good song. Actually has some emotion to it, unlike a lot of others on the radio.

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Comrade_Liar
03-31-2005

Rated 0 
Songs from the summer of love ('67) baby.

Truely about a drug trip.

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marnsmarie
04-16-2005

Rated 0 
who sang the original? Van Morrison sings this song, as wellas Annie Lennox... But who is the Mastermind, the ORIGINAL??
And what does this song mean???

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danddan
09-29-2005

Rated 0 
procol harum did it originally... i don't have a clue as to what it is actually about, no one does... but drugs do seem to be a good bet

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Reynard Muldrake
01-07-2006

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Every song can't be about drugs! I don't know exactly what it's "about", but the line "whiter shade of pale" is somehow very sad. Like something that was already ruined just went even further down the drain. This song makes me pretty sad in general. *sniff*

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fastfingerz
01-11-2006

Rated 0 
yeah, kinda funny how you said that the line whiter shade of pale made you sniffle. it is about cocain, at least the whiter shade of pale part is.

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ProposedMeaning
02-03-2006

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I've heard that this song is about the sinking of the Titanic.

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KathKay
02-23-2006

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Are we for sure that it's "As the Miller told its tale"? I had thought it was "As the Mirror told its tale", and that the song was sort of a realization of the beholder....

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mr the fish
03-15-2006

Rated 0 
I thought it was mirror told its tale as well, and I am sure I have seen that lyric elsewhere, but what the song is really about, and this is from one of the members of Procul Harem, is the recounting of a coast to coast flight in heavy turbulence with a service crew of trainee stewardesses (the reference there is the 16 vestal virgins) wherein everybody got violent motion sickness...no kidding

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vasnmoGo
03-23-2006

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Mr the fish is close to the truth - lead singer had same tale to tell - the miller told a tale?

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kat44
07-08-2006

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I know that Keith Reid (the one who wrote the lyrics) was affected by the holocaust as his parents had to get out of germany and he never saw his grandparents again. I'm wondering if this song is about the horror of the holocaust coupled with a drug trip. But then again, he wouldn't let her be a virgin and she turned a whiter shade of pale so maybe it's life being confusing as hell or something coupled perhaps with a drug trip.

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lotus2700
11-01-2006

Rated 0 
It's not about drugs, it's about a one-night stand. It starts with dancing, drinking, drinking, etc. "would not let her be/one of the sixteen vestal virgins" suggests rather strongly at the real intent of the singer. There is another verse that wasn't recorded in which the song ends with the two landing on the "ocean bed" bringing together the 'sea' metaphor that the song employs and the culmination of a man's drunken attempts to woo a stranger. Apparently Reid heard a friend use the phrase "whiter shade of pale" which he thought was a beautiful compliment to pay to a girl and wanted to use it.
beautiful song

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Azraeldrah
01-18-2007

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i thought the band had never actually revealed what it's about. and it is the miller told his tale, reference to chaucer.

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Azraeldrah
01-18-2007

Rated 0 
oh and 'skipped the light fandango' is surely a play on 'tripped the light fantastic'

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windycityguy
03-11-2007

Rated 0 
Azraeldrah is right - a lot of this song is an allusion to Canterbury Tales. The story has a number of medieval characters tell their tales - one of which is known as the Miller. The 'her' whose face turns pale probably refers to the Prioress (aka Nun) after hearing the Miller's bawdy tale. The virgins 'leaving for the coast' probably refers to the pilgrimage to Canterbury, England which the story is framed around.

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paula.redbus
06-22-2007

Rated 0 
I heard a DJ say once that it was about a card game, on board a ship. The mirror told the tale, was a reference to the fact that "she" saw the reflection of the cards in the mirror, & the realization of the outcome, ie, the loss of a substantial loss of money, made her turn a 'whiter shale of pale.

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kittlz75
08-18-2007

Rated 0 
If you listen to the lyrics, it is about a sinking ship...references to Mermaids, and Neptune, and "crashing" to the floor or the sea..etc

Possibly, the titanic...

either way, I first heard this song as when i was maybe 3 in the late1970's and it creeped me out then. When I was about 12 and started dabbling in poetry and lyrics, it painted a sure picture of death...and now It is clear to me. The song makes me feel as if everyone around me has died and I am left alone.

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alaturk
09-02-2007

Rated 0 
when I first heard this on the radio I thought it was by 'the band'

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infojunkie
10-08-2007

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The most comprehensive explanation in writing is under the youtube entry which you can find by searching for "Gary Brooker Leeds London" - which is Procol Harum lead singer Brooker singing with the London Orchestra in 2005 or so. 30 posts by infojunkie2 tell as much as can be told without a confession from the author. The two missing verses do not completely fit with the two verses used in the 1967 hit song. The lyricist wrote verse he liked the sound of, and they never squared all the nuances up completely.

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infojunkie
10-08-2007

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The two verses used in the 1967 hit song can be viewed as a spoof on the "heavy" language and meaning of the "60s generation." With grandiose self-importance, a guy who is interested in a girl feels she has turned pale - but instead of simply saying that -- says she has turned a "whiter shade of pale". All this takes place a a wild sixties booze (feeling kind of seasick) and drugs (as the ceiling flew away) party. The girl, heading for a vacation in California (one of sixteen vestil virgins headed for the cost), whom the guy is interested in (would not let her be), says there is no reason she is pale, so let it go. The reference to vestil virgins (Roman mythology) and Chaucer (as the miller told his tale) throw classic literature into the mix of spoofing a guy telling a girl she looks pale, as a way to make conversation. The deeper meaning is growing up, the awkwardness for most people of dating, etc. which explains the enduring popularity of the song. Everyone can read their own meanings into the lyrics from their growing up years. As one commentator said, "No one knows what is means, but everyone understands."

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infojunkie
10-08-2007

Rated 0 
THe last line of the last comment should have been: "No one knows what it (WSoP) means, but everyone understands." When you throw in the two missing verses, analogies to drug overdoses, or a relationship killed in it infancy by the girl, or a drunken, dissolute night ending in an ignominious one night stand -- are easy to make. In any case, I would argue, as I do at lenght on Youtube in the comments under the Leeds London performance of this song, that the meaning of the two verses used in the hit song, do not square exactly with the meaning of the two missing verses -- nor does the 3rd missing verse square totally with the meaning of the fourth missing verse. The lyricist wrote verses he like which suggested various things, threw them on the composer's desk, and the composer and lead singer (Gary Brooker) wrong the music, and a third guy added the organ intro which as one internet commentator said, " . . . takes me back to a fog-drenched river ride." It is clear from the few interviews there are with lyricsit Keith Richards that he is holding back; for instance, he says that he can't remember why he wrote "as the miller told his tale" as one of the lyrics. This is not credible. So the speculation will go on. Like Don McClean and American Pie, Procol Harum choooses not to comment.

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Sgt. Pepper
11-05-2007

Rated 0 
Is anyone else surprised this is sung by a white guy! I don't mean to be offensive, but I was pretty shocked! So much soul!

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Skimpy
11-11-2007

Rated 0 
I'm not sure what it means, people say a concert.
But whenever I hear it it sounds like love to me.
"I Was Feeling Kind Of Seasick
But The Crowd Called Out For More"
He was feeling seasick because he was nervous, and afraid. And the "Crowd" is his and her family members or friends encouraging them and making the "Oohs" and "Awes" in the background.

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queenisabel
01-25-2008

Rated 0 
Procol Harum, spin on latin for "beyond these things" wrote the original lines. and it is the miller told his tale not mirror. Check this; there are two more verses

We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale
She said, there is no reason
And the truth is plain to see.
But I wandered through my playing cards
And would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open
They might have just as wellve been closed
She said, Im home on shore leave,
Though in truth we were at sea
So I took her by the looking glass
And forced her to agree
Saying, you must be the mermaid
Who took neptune for a ride.
But she smiled at me so sadly
That my anger straightway died

If music be the food of love
Then laughter is its queen
And likewise if behind is in front
Then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
Seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
And attacked the ocean bed

I believe it is the experience of being on the sinking of the Titanic. "I was feeling kinda seasick"; "vestal virgins" he wanted to get laid? The miller's tale is about wanting a kiss and the second flood.

Aside from that, MEMORIES FLOOD! My first dance and the many dances there after. Whiter Shade of Pale usually was the last dance of the night!

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