Comments on: Procol Harum ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ & meaning

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:31:49 +0000

THISD SONG ABOUT RAPE? PLEASE….YOU GOT SOME DIRTY MIND….

By: JDCOOL

JDCOOL — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:12:36 +0000

sorry should have added when he confronts her she turns a whiter shade of pale!

By: JDCOOL

JDCOOL — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:06:52 +0000

Hi, I was told from someone in that era that the song was actually about a girl that was pregnant to another guy hence the truth was plain to see! And it was really about a guy realising the baby wasnt his and looking around at all the virgins ahem etc to find out the whole scene is a lie! Would love, if you listen to the song again in that light what you think?

By: Nikki

Nikki — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 21:24:59 +0000

By reading all of the comments above, the song obviously has slightly different meanings to people. Whether you think it about love, death, drugs or indeed, a maritime disaster, does it really matter?

I think it refreshing that some songs don’t conform with the ‘norm’ as it’s what makes them unique and memorable. The song in question induces memories of the individual listener and that should be what matters. For me, the fact that it was one of my late Dad’s favourite songs, will always make it special to me.

Love it or hate it, take from it what you will.

By: Rene

Rene — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:02:00 +0000

I think this song has to be something about life. We are characters playing our parts on the stage set by the designer.
It has some religious tones, The flood, the sea, carpenter and his wife, etc.

Draw your own conclusion but read Chaucer, know what vestal virgins are. Dig deeper to find out what it actually means.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:29:27 +0000

Uh uh. If you listen to the rest of the song (the mysterious missing lynch pin of the cut off two verses) you find out that he was drunk but he was on a ship. A drunken hallucination that might have been a ghost that was actually there warned him that the ship was going to crash. He jumped over board and the ship ACTUALLY DID SINK.

By: Atlantic

Atlantic — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:01:50 +0000

Its about the moment you realise that she is not meant for you. The sad moment when you fall out of love. She is a ghost to him by now… but later that evening he falls completely out of love as she turns a whiter shade of pale

This is the woman which he tried to have but could not have….

In the end he gets it and moves on

A jouney ends….

By: Vlada W.

Vlada W. — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:24:42 +0000

Thank everyone for explanation. I´ve heard this song more then 20 years ago and I was from first moment amazed (for me were lyrics and event meaning not understandable). But I think that in future I will again feel only music,Hammond organ, singer´s voice…

By: Hd. Sulistyo

Hd. Sulistyo — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 04:28:46 +0000

Wooooy… “A whiter shade of pale” a great song, and I’m interested in singing and hearing. The song heard when I was fourteen years old, and now I was 57 years old. Bravo !

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 06:14:45 +0000

The ceiling flew away… what imagery.

By: hairball hippy

hairball hippy — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 01:01:25 +0000

Does anybody really know what time it is, does anybody really care.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:17:57 +0000

Wow! Just sit back and enjoy the song. I’ve been listening to this since I was a teenager and never took drugs of any kind. I love the organ background. I never took much stock in analyzing the “hippie” music, even Lucy in the Sky. Too many versions and the lyricists will never tell. They like the mystery to keep the records flowing.

So much great music came out of the 60′s and some of the 70′s. Today, forget it. They don’t know how to keep the music in the background and the singers audible. No screaming, no meaning. Sorry. We’ll see if it lasts 40 years.

Also, not to pour acid on the wounds, but I don’t think the depth of meaning is in the music, thus the reason for these postings.

By: pedro english

pedro english — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:08:47 +0000

This was explained by a well-connected radio jock at the time about a special maiden being taken…….

“the room was humming harder as the ceiling flew away…”: active party

“so it was that later as the miller told his tale that her face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale”

“Miller recounting the special moment!

“She said there is no reason and the truth is plain to see” – she is plainly
available

“I wandered through my playing cards and would not let her be one of 16 vestal virgins”… he does not want her to be like his previous conquests i.e.
she was special.

By: but,yet, however

but,yet, however — Sat, 08 May 2010 15:28:21 +0000

I clearly was only 9 years old when this became a hit. It was the Viatnamese War and drugs was a transient escape. But if you we were one never to do a drug in the 60′s & 70′s and take a deep look at the lyrics of Whiter Shade of Pale, I could say it is about a bunch of close war time friends spending their last days together before they go back to doing their service. Whiter shade of pale to me is coming to terms with the truth of dying and the people you love you leave behind. This same visual is seen in the aftermath of shell shocked victims “Turned a whiter shade of pale”

By: Ant

Ant — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:54:22 +0000

It’s about a tightrope walker, in the circus. I heard the guy who wrote it years ago on Radio 4 talking about it.