{"id":310789,"date":"2025-12-29T12:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T12:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=310789"},"modified":"2025-12-26T07:11:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T07:11:37","slug":"what-a-whiter-shade-of-pale-by-procol-harum-is-really-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/12\/what-a-whiter-shade-of-pale-by-procol-harum-is-really-about\/","title":{"rendered":"What &#8220;A Whiter Shade of Pale&#8221; by Procol Harum is Really About"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap\" dir=\"auto\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" dir=\"auto\">Released as their debut record on 12 May 1967, <em>A Whiter Shade of Pale<\/em> is a legendary song by the British rock band <em>Procol Harum<\/em>. The single reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for six weeks. One of the anthems of the 1967 <em><strong>Summer of Love<\/strong>, A Whiter Shade of Pale<\/em> is one of the most successful singles of all time, having sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, and being recorded over 1,000 times by other artists. Although the music was written by vocalist\/pianist Gary Brooker and organist Matthew Fisher, the lyrics were written by band associate Keith Reid. A poet in his own right, Reid&#8217;s verses are both illustrative and ambiguous and many have debated the song&#8217;s meaning. Today, we crack that code!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What &quot;A Whiter Shade of Pale&quot; by Procol Harum is Really About\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3rsNpqH3z5U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lyrics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We skipped the light fandango<br \/>\nTurned some cartwheels across the floor<br \/>\nI was feeling kind of seasick<\/p>\n<p>When the crowd called out for more<br \/>\nThe room was humming harder<br \/>\nAnd the ceiling flew away<\/p>\n<p>When I called out for another drink<br \/>\nThe waiter brought a tray<\/p>\n<p>And so it was later<br \/>\nWhen the miller told this tale<br \/>\nThat her face at first just ghostly<br \/>\nTurned a whiter shade of pale<\/p>\n<p>She said, &#8220;There is no reason<br \/>\nAnd the truth is plain to see&#8221;<br \/>\nThat I wandered through my playing cards<\/p>\n<p>And could not let her be, no<br \/>\nOne of 16 vestal virgins<br \/>\nWho was leaving for the coast<\/p>\n<p>And although my eyes were open<br \/>\nThey might just as well have been closed<\/p>\n<p>And so it was later<br \/>\nWhen the miller told this tale<br \/>\nHe said that her face at first just ghostly<br \/>\nAnd then turned a whiter shade of pale<\/p>\n<p>And so it was later<br \/>\nWhen the miller told this tale<br \/>\nHe said that her face at first just ghostly<br \/>\nThen turned a whiter shade of pale<\/p>\n<p>Oh, just a whiter shade of pale<br \/>\nThen turned a whiter shade of pale<\/p>\n<p>_________________<\/p>\n<p><em>Source:\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musixmatch.com\/pro\/\" >Musixmatch<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Whiter Shade of Pale lyrics \u00a9 Onward Music\/essex Retentions C\/o Bucks Music, Onwards Music Ltd.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Released on 12 May 1967, &#8216;A Whiter Shade of Pale&#8217; is a legendary song by the British rock band Procol Harum. One of the anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of the most successful singles of all time. The lyrics were written by Keith Reid whose verses are illustrative and ambiguous. Today, we crack that code!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[871,868],"class_list":["post-310789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-video-of-the-week","tag-music-video","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310792,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310789\/revisions\/310792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}