Procol Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale"

snubbyfan · #1 08-14-2013, 07:42 PM

Thank goodness for that big orange new thread button. I just gotta put this out there.
On another thread people have been quoting some of the lyrics from Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale." I realized that I have no idea what this song's about.
I didn't want to hijack that thread and I'm curious to know if anyone knows what the heck they're singin' about.
Procol Harum "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" 1967 - YouTube

RonJ · #2 08-14-2013, 07:53 PM

Boy and girl get together and end up doing what boys and girls do?

timn8er · #3 08-14-2013, 07:54 PM

Ron's got it.

Taurus627 · #4 08-14-2013, 07:55 PM

In my opinion, when someone refers to a "whiter shade of pale" signifies, to me, death.

kudzu3 · #5 08-14-2013, 08:01 PM

Ooooo, wish I could go back. This songs brings so many memories.

Smith357 · #6 08-14-2013, 08:09 PM

Folks have been speculating on the meaning of the lyrics to "Whiter Shade of Pale" for years. Everything from two kids hooking up, an old seaman getting drunk with the ghost of his lost love, to getting jiggy with a mermaid.

rags · #7 08-14-2013, 08:09 PM

This may help with the meaning of the song but when I got half way down the page, my head started to hurt...

A Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum Songfacts

mc5aw · #8 08-14-2013, 08:09 PM

Ten bucks to the first Forum member who can skip the light fandango then turn cartwheels 'cross the floor.

DeathGrip · #9 08-14-2013, 08:15 PM

Acid trip?

MI-LPTroll · #10 08-14-2013, 08:28 PM

When I was working in NYC I was going around singing "come on Eileen" because it was stuck in my head like mad for 2 weeks straight. It wasn't until after that I realized for those two weeks, I was basically going around propositioning someone by the name of eileen to...well you know...I don't sing that one aloud so much anymore... :P

kozmic · #11 08-14-2013, 09:09 PM

I don't mean to hijack here Snubby but it was my new signature line "as the miller told his tale" that prompted the "lyrical quotefest" in that other thread where we saw Lee let his hair down!

It was obviously taken from PH's lyrics in A Whiter Shade Of Pale (one of my favs), but I was actually referring to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Specifically, The Miller's Tale (again, my fav) and how much that particular story and it's circumstances reminds me of all the things that I love about this site.

Total structure, total structure gone awry, riveting stories and tales, interaction, sharing, asking, informing, enlightenment, humor, sympathy, life lessons....you name it, we got it right here!

Again sorry for the detour on your thread.

mc5aw · #12 08-14-2013, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kozmic

It was obviously taken from PH's lyrics in A Whiter Shade Of Pale (one of my favs), but I was actually referring to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Specifically, The Miller's Tale (again, my fav) and how much that particular story and it's circumstances reminds me of all the things that I love about this site.

Wait a minute, Kozmic ... You weren't referencing Barney Miller?

vytoland · #13 08-14-2013, 09:36 PM

after we analyze this...we can start dissecting "Subterranean Homesick Blues"

woodsltc · #14 08-14-2013, 09:36 PM

Folks can read what they want into the lyrics, but I think the meaning simply boils down to "how good the 60's were for you" !!

Don

sipowicz · #15 08-14-2013, 09:38 PM

Just don't ask me what "Turning Japanese" means...

bricker · #16 08-14-2013, 09:45 PM

These threads are giving me flashbacks, I can almost hear those voices in my subconscious again..............

cmort666 · #17 08-15-2013, 05:30 AM

I prefer the disco version by Andrea True and Munich Machine.

wbraswell · #18 08-15-2013, 10:11 AM

I feel we have members with crooked chromosomes.

timn8er · #19 08-15-2013, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmort666

I prefer the disco version by Andrea True and Munich Machine.

You're embarrassing yourself....

Straightshooter2 · #20 08-15-2013, 11:36 AM

Nobody knows what the lyrics mean. I don't think the writer understood them. But since the statute of limitations has run out, I will admit to spending many hours in various altered states of consciousness trying to determine the meaning.

A10 · #21 08-15-2013, 11:45 AM

I think the important thing to remember about the lyrics is that they mostly rhymed.....

carpriver · #22 08-15-2013, 01:32 PM

I always liked the music, the words didn't mean much.

kcode · #23 08-15-2013, 02:51 PM

It was all confusing in the day, try to analyze any thing that Jim Morrison and the Doors did, what is a "Lizard King"?

The one I did understand was the Kinks "Lola"

wbraswell · #24 08-15-2013, 03:02 PM

I'm still trying to decipher "I am the Walrus"
kcode, is your screen name Mustang lingo? or more correctly, little Ford lingo.

Naples22 · #25 08-15-2013, 03:26 PM

It's about a visit to the Glock assembly line.

Doug M. · #26 08-15-2013, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timn8er

You're embarrassing yourself....

*
This from someone quoting that Monty Python tune as a sig line. That takes some audacity!

timn8er · #27 08-15-2013, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug M.

*
This from someone quoting that Monty Python tune as a sig line. That takes some audacity!

Bold & brave, that's me. Also, Monty Python Rules!

kozmic · #28 08-15-2013, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timn8er

Bold & brave, that's me.

Just out of curiosity Tim, would that be before or after you get dolled up in your high heels, suspenders and bra?

vigil617 · #29 08-15-2013, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kozmic

Just out of curiosity Tim, would that be before or after you get dolled up in your high heels, suspenders and bra?

"Just like his dear pa-pa.."

By the way, thanks a LOT all of you on this thread. Thanks to YOU, I've had "that song" in my head for going-on 24 hours straight!

Next it'll be, "I am the Walrus, I am the ear-worm, kookookachoo....."

Taurus627 · #30 08-15-2013, 07:30 PM

I liked this version from a band called HSAS with Sammy Hagar and Neil Schon!!

HSAS covered PROCOL HARUM -A Whiter Shade Of Pale- San Jose CA 1984.mpeg - YouTube

P.S. Being I wasn't born until 66, don't remember any of the 60's other than what I see on TV!!! Do I get credit for surviving the disco era of the 70's??

rags · #31 08-15-2013, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vigil617

"Just like his dear pa-pa.."

By the way, thanks a LOT all of you on this thread. Thanks to YOU, I've had "that song" in my head for going-on 24 hours straight!

Next it'll be, "I am the Walrus, I am the ear-worm, kookookachoo....."

The Walrus was Paul...

carpriver · #32 08-15-2013, 07:52 PM

Did anyone ever figure out the words to "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen?

shouldazagged · #33 08-15-2013, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taurus627

P.S. Being I wasn't born until 66, don't remember any of the 60's other than what I see on TV!!! Do I get credit for surviving the disco era of the 70's??

Well, you were very young and thus resilient. Quick to heal.

Most of us who were older (I'm a high-mileage 1937 model) were permanently scarred. Truly was it said, "Disco sucks!"

sheepdawg · #34 08-15-2013, 07:55 PM

Just what is a Procol Harum?

I Am the Walrus made perfect sense one night around 1971, maybe a couple of nights, it's that Number 9, Number 9, Number 9 that I can't figure out. Timothy Leary must have given John some of his really good stuff that he had put back for a special occasion.

LVSteve · #35 08-15-2013, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmort666

I prefer the disco version by Andrea True and Munich Machine.

You admit to knowing such a version exists?

They say if you can remember the 60s you weren't there.

The 70s have been called "The Decade that Taste Forgot". I still wake up in sweat if I dream about some of the stupid things that went on in that period.

timn8er · #36 08-15-2013, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kozmic

Just out of curiosity Tim, would that be before or after you get dolled up in your high heels, suspenders and bra?

Actually, that's "suspendies". Even though, like I said, I base my life on MP's teachings, there is a line I will not cross(

). Not from any high flung moral principles so much, actually it just seems like too much work.

BillyMagg · #37 08-15-2013, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheepdawg

Just what is a Procol Harum?

I Am the Walrus made perfect sense one night around 1971, maybe a couple of nights, it's that Number 9, Number 9, Number 9 that I can't figure out. Timothy Leary must have given John some of his really good stuff that he had put back for a special occasion.

I don't know but that link on you-tube took me to "Conquistador" and Argent's "Hold Your Head Up", now my little `15 year old chicklets are rolling their eyes, and went out to sit on the porch?????

snubbyfan · #38 08-15-2013, 08:43 PM

Alright, I've got a confession. I don't know how it got in there but I just can't seem to get it out.
I have Bobby Sherman "Sweet Gingerbread Man" stuck in my head. I friggin' hate Bobby Sherman.
I think maybe I need to open that emergency bottle of Tequila and chug it.
Sweet Gingerbread Man - YouTube

mc5aw · #39 08-15-2013, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpriver

Did anyone ever figure out the words to "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen?

"Louie Louie" was written and originally recorded by Richard Berry in 1957. The Kingsmen covered it in 1963.

Richard BERRY "Louie Louie" (1957) - YouTube

Squarebutt · #40 08-15-2013, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpriver

I always liked the music, the words didn't mean much.

The nice music teacher from Texas will be here in a minute to tell us who wrote the tune, but I believe it was Johann Sebastian Bach. Am I right, Cap?

handejector · #41 08-15-2013, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kozmic

It was obviously taken from PH's lyrics in A Whiter Shade Of Pale (one of my favs), but I was actually referring to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Specifically, The Miller's Tale (again, my fav) and how much that particular story and it's circumstances reminds me of all the things that I love about this site.

Total structure, total structure gone awry, riveting stories and tales, interaction, sharing, asking, informing, enlightenment, humor, sympathy, life lessons....you name it, we got it right here!

Calm down, man.
You're trippin'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taurus627

P.S. Being I wasn't born until 66, don't remember any of the 60's other than what I see on TV!!!

Lots of people born from 45 to 55 don't remember the 60's.

Try one from Waylon & Willie-
WILLIE NELSON - A Whiter Shade Of Pale - YouTube

or
Joe Cocker-
Joe Cocker - A Whiter Shade Of Pale (LIVE in Berlin) HD - YouTube

The lyrics have been interpreted at one time or another as meaning everything ever thought about life and/or death on earth.

In the late 60s and early 70s, if you stayed at a party long enough, some 'drunk' chick would always get around to giving her interpretation of the lyrics. I learned to listen intently, smiling, and nod at appropriate times and say "Yeahhhhh.....". When she finished her spiel, I'd say 'I think you got it!'.

LVSteve · #42 08-15-2013, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squarebutt

The nice music teacher from Texas will be here in a minute to tell us who wrote the tune, but I believe it was Johann Sebastian Bach. Am I right, Cap?

Many think it is Bach's Air on a G string but it isn't. The two tunes have a similar progression but are not the same.

timn8er · #43 08-15-2013, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyMagg

I don't know but that link on you-tube took me to "Conquistador" and Argent's "Hold Your Head Up", now my little `15 year old chicklets are rolling their eyes, and went out to sit on the porch?????

Happened to me too, Billy. Years ago when I was still married, I was watching some music awards show with the ex & her kids. ACDC was up for something, & I expressed my disbelief(sorry to any of their fans here, I guess I just didn't get them!). The fourteen (at the time)year old was in that stage where anything I said was just wrong, PERIOD. She immediately piped up "That's the kind of music that the kids of today like, you don't understand because you're old!" So I told her "What you need you understand is that kind of music is put out there by people my age because they know that kids your age, the kids of today, will eat it up, making lots of money for the old people, like me." This upset her & she left the room. Oh well.

Lt JL · #44 08-15-2013, 11:44 PM

"number nine, number nine, number nine.." was actually a mic check from stage to sound board. Mostly, I remember listening to Inna Gadda Da Vida at 16 1/3 rpm. The drum solo lasted about 30 minutes, or maybe two days.
If you can remember the 60's, you weren't there.

Frank46 · #45 08-16-2013, 12:18 AM

At my age and physical condition ain't no way I'm gonna do one of them fandango's and cartwheel coast to coast. Anyone remember annie haslam and rennisance (ok I can't spell either). Frank

LVSteve · #46 08-16-2013, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank46

Anyone remember annie haslam and rennisance (ok I can't spell either). Frank

Renaissance, now there's a band that has gone through a few line-ups. Annie Haslam was but one of the female singers, although she is the best known.

BLUEDOT37 · #47 08-16-2013, 01:26 AM

Of Procol Harum's two big hits, I prefer "Conquistador" over "A Whiter Shade of Pale", it doesn't hurt my head as much, besides, organs scare me!

snowman · #48 08-16-2013, 01:48 AM

There are a lot of popular songs, it seems to me, whose meaning is known only to the writer(if indeed he/she actually had a meaning in mind). "Along Comes Mary" recorded by the Association comes to mind; and of course "American Pie" by Don McLean. Those are but two of many examples which could be cited. Of course some are more cryptic than others.

Regards,
Andy