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We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
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
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
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
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, CrimsonApostle, george1037, LoriLmi
A Whiter Shade of Pale Lyrics as written by Keith Reid Gary Brooker
Lyrics © Onward Music Limited
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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In my opinion the two most important words of the song are "light fandango". At first I thought about the spanish kind of dance, but it didn't make any sense. After accurate web search, I knew that "fandango" can also be color fuchsia, the typical color of the LSD pills that Ken Kesey gave to people during his notorious parties. In the Procol Harum's song "light fandango" was a light dose of LSD, which led to the partygoers something similar to being drunk ; but people asked for more (fandango-LSD),and so LSD hallucination began.In this hallucination a young girl was captured by Neptune like she was a marmaid, and she was driven to the ocean bed. It's the usual vision of death induced by the spoken substance. My conclusion is great song, also because in 1967 only few pop musicians "dared" to fight against LSD (to say the truth in this case we have a light fight). I'm from Italy, and I have to say that in Italian web sites we can find some translations of "a whiter shade of pale" that are really comical. Italian 1967 cover version of the song was "Dik Dik - senza luce" (in English "alone at night"), good except for the lyrics (without rhyme).