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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 well've 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
And so it was that later
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 well've 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
And so it was that later
Lyrics submitted by Psycho_pr, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 07:46
"A Whiter Shade of Pale" as written by Gary Brooker Keith Reid
Lyrics © T.R.O. INC.
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Here is my interpretation:
We skipped a light fandango,
(Unsure about this line)
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor.
(It was reported that children were doing cartwheels across the "deck" during the day light hours and adults were afraid that they would fall overboard)
I was feeling kind of seasick,
(Just as it says)
But the crowd called out for more.
(The Titanic hit the iceberg on April 14, 1912 at approximately 11:00 pm ship's time and sank at approximately 2:20 am on the 15th of April. The passengers knew their fate and that they were going to die. To take their minds off of their pending deaths, they played cards, got drunk, or just listened to music).
The room was humming harder,
(The Titanic's crew keep the lights on and the light bulbs back then made noises when the lit)
As the ceiling flew away.
(There was a glass and steel dome over the "Grand Ballroom" on the Titanic. The Titanic was sinking bow first and when the water got over the dome, it could not support the extra weight.)
When we called out for another drink,
The waiter brought a tray.
(The waiters knew they were going to die too, so they gave out all of liquor.)
And so it was that later,
(The Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40 pm and sank at 2:20 am)
As the miller told his tale,
(I believe that the correct line is "As the Mayor told his tale". He was just trying to divert attention from his pending death).
That her face at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale.
(What color does your face turn if you KNOW you are going to die? A whiter shade of pale!!!)
She said there is no reason,
(The correct line is "HE said there is no reason. The ship owner Joseph Ismay kept telling passengers that the ship was unsinkable)
And the truth is plain to see
(Despite that fact that Ismay kept telling passengers that the Titanic was unsinkable, the truth was plain to see)
That I wandered through my playing cards,
And would not let her be
(Maybe by some miracle, the boat would STOP sinking)
One of sixteen vestal virgins
(Correct line - "One of sixteen vessel virgins" There were 16 new ships making their first voyages in 1912)
Who were leaving for the coast.
(Coast of United States from Europe)
And although my eyes were open,
They might just as well have been closed.
(The narrator could see that the ship is sinking but did not want to believe it)
And so it was later,
As the miller told his tale,
That her face at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale.
I believe that the second verse is incorrect. Most of the on-line lyrics say:
"As the miller told his tale". I believe the correct lyrics are: "As the mayor told his tale" (possibly Dr. Washington Dodge - 1st class passenger on Titanic).
His face was ghostly at first but turned a whiter shade of pale when he realized that he was going to die. Several of the passengers thought the Titanic was unsinkable. Playing cards and listening to the band was a method to take their minds of their eventual fate.
In 1912, there were 16 new ships that were making their first voyage. Could this be one of the "One of sixteen vestal virgins Who were leaving for the coast"?
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 considered an early example of progressive rock.
The phrase a whiter shade of pale has since gained widespread use in the English language, noticed by several dictionaries. As such, the phrase is today often used in contexts independent of any consideration of the song. It has also been heavily paraphrased, in forms like an Xer shade of Y -- this to the extent that it has been recognized as a snowclone – a type of cliché and phrasal template.
And the rest is where your head go's on psychedelics. Seemingly profound stuff that make's infinite sense until the next day.
It still sounds pretty so why not leave it.
here is my interpretation to the song : whiter shade of pale by procol harum .
well ,i thing that while using some hallucination drugs(LSD,cocaine or others) the consciousness is "imposed" over reality. the associative capabilities of the mind (mainly the brain) to associate between objects,ideas and so-is in a higher state then "normal"(maybe it's the way ouer brain shield it self from overflow of awareness).
in that case very strong and unusual (mostly spectacular)associative mind conections are made to describe ideas in a very magical way and the most importent --with no mistakes!!.
it should be notice that in my opinion the drug user him self is (mostly) the only one who can explain what realt happend inside his mind 'that why for many others it is some time hard to folllow up the true meaning of the song (in ouer case for example)
thats how surrealism "acts" .
so -one of procol harum band member must have the most right and the closest interpretation to the song while a man like me can only make a guess.
the first stage in my opinion afther taking the drugs(and maybe several drinks as well) when the mind consciousness open it self to the other dimentions described here as :"light fandango" or : Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor.
the crowd called out for more
it's what accur in the head of the song writer,and that is the "room" --(The room was humming harder) wich humming harder now under the drugs and metaporicly -- it ceiling flew away.
in my mind " the miller" is the brain it self wich is busy grinding the reality facts into a fine flour (fine in that case).
that miller told his tale:"That her face at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale"-meanning reality wich was as ghostly face and not surely understood became now cleare and shiny -- whiter shade of pale.
She said there is no reason,And the truth is plain to see --"she" :is the mind under influance of the drugs ( the "head") ,and thw writer can see now that truth is plain to see (when
awareness and consciousness are free from any boundaries).
That(it is a decision made by the writer) I wandered through my playing cards,
And would not let her be (the truth behinde what he understood when consciousness opend widely and he was able to see it --whiter then a shade of pale.
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast.
And although my eyes were open,
They might just as well have been closed.
the last 4 kunes could describe the bad,bitter and rudeness fate(irony of fate)
of the 16 vestal virgins (the roman religion).
and when you see the light and the truth --
although the eyes were open--
They might just as well have been closed.
becouse now you truly a believer.
It was meant to be a love story between two persons on a ship. The songwriter said so himself:songfacts.com/…
The woman seemed to be the mermaid Lorelei who lured lonely sailors to the rocks, whose ships perished. She was a ghost on this ship which was taking virgins to the coast, perhaps to be sacrificed. While she wooed the writer and pretended to be a beautiful damsel, she was tricking him into believing that she was real. Her face 'turning a whiter shade of pale' gave her away. He accused her of tricking Neptune too, the god of the sea...to show how cunning she really was. He found her to be lying when he said:She said, "I'm here on a shore leave,"
Though we were miles at sea.
I pointed out this detail
And forced her to agree"
In the end the ship plunged into the say and everyone perished when the ship "So we crash-dived straightway quicklyAnd attacked the ocean bed"
So the colour " a whiter shade of pale" is the face of death...