Procol Harum-A Whiter Shade of Pale-lyrics!

[Jakeman219]

Great tribute to your Dad. Love this song. It has a lot of meaning to it. Most don't understand. Thanks for the upload.

[TheHuddyLove]

Sela Ward's favorite song<3

[burpo]

I have always loved this song, but I still have no idea what it means.

[CaroXNirvana]

He wrote that when he was high !! :p

[OCFgirl]

Love the way this song is used in The 10th Kingdom :-)

[gwenparker24msncom]

nice dedication to your dad...somehow I never really understood the lyrics..but always loved the music...It arouses senses into the mind. Thanks for sharing!

[TheSingleMiner]

the only reason im listening to this is because my grandpa told me to look up the lyrics to it

[MrFuckyouintheneck]

@TheSingleMiner Uhm, cool? Why did you feel the need to share that? Are you embarassed to listen to classic music? Where theres actually talent?

[mikeyman6]

I WAS FEELING KIND OF SEASICK, BUT THE CROWD CALLED OUT FOR MOOOOOORE

[theenforcer1977]

First heard this song in the movies The Falcon and the Snowman. Sean Penn is having a huge party at his parents house. He takes a picture of this blonde by the swimming pool with the camera Timothy Hutton had to use to photograpg the documents he was stealing for the Russians. Awesome flick.

[Harvey238]

Singing mushrooms!

[richardvollin]

I recall many years ago reading an interview that John Lennon had given...somewhere in it he said something to the effect that he'd wished the Beatles had written this song.

Or maybe that it was his favorite song at the time...

[curiousbutwithvalues]

This is a song really about a male/female sexual relationship that involves drunken seduction, with lots of nautical metaphors. It is a gorgeous song with a subtle hint at what a man might insinuate in a bar on a seaside dock while he, referred to as the miller, told his "tale"...so she would not be one of 16 vestal virgins who were once heading for the coast. Very cute! It was the 1967 when many women who went to bars were still virgins. I love the line "whiter shade of pale" Play with words 

[cattime1]

@curiousbutwithvalues thank you so much for explaining what the hell this song is about. i've loved it for years, without having a clue.

[AlexxDudd]

Pirate Radio

[Zile1955]

Thank you wery much Evan ...

[BrownBear92HRM]

I Have so much love for this song <3 <3 <3 BB Favourt x

[Ironic268]

Funny been thinking about my Dad a lot lately (miss you 26/12/98) birthday coming up soon too! and only looked this up cos heard it on radio but didn't know the lyrics!! Thank you-What a beautiful song to dedicate to your father!!

[tazepat001]

I just sang this song along with my dad.

[09875421361]

this song is so freaking GAY !!!!!!!!!! sorry but thats just my opinion

[Alliizeroserox]

@09875421361 your Gay

[Fanny991223]

@Alliizeroserox I agree with you!

[Alliizeroserox]

@Fanny991223 Thank You :) haha I got 5 thumbs up for that comment and 2 down but those people Are just Mad cuz its the truth :D

[thewonderboy59]

thank you so much for the lyrics. I have loved this song for such a long time, but could not quite get all the lyrics. it brings back so many memories. where have all those time gone?

[AntManIAm]

... but he was always quick to aplogize.

[blairdmoyers]

"The Miller's Tale" (Middle English: The Milleres Tale) is the second of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1380s-1390s),

[HawkeyeBerlin]

Great Work, Evan! Many, many Thanks for the lyrics of this fantastic song!!!!!

[muppy1100]

BRO... U HAVE A LOT OF CLASS TO SPEAK ABOUT YOUR FATHER IN SUCH A WAY..... GOD BLESS YOU !!!!

[schwill81]

Did these guys ever have another hit or popular song?

[rudeingenue]

@schwill81 "Conquistador" was a hit in the US, at least, summer of 1972. "Whiskey Train" SHOULD have been a hit.

[coloredeyesxd]

the perks of being a wallflower

[Pawlzee]

thanks for your kind words skwyrley. ive never really said much about my time or my job .i sometimes feelso ashamed that i had to haul so many likeminded peaceful brothers out of there.music and each other was all we had . no kid should have to grow up that fast. but,we are at it again. i wonder what they listen too sometimes.i hope they all have theyre own whiter shade of pale.PEACE&LOVE

[Pawlzee]

viet nam 70 i always listened to this song before and after med evacs. if i was going to die at the age of 18, i wanted this to be the last song i would ever hear.still gets me through at times.

[Skwyrley]

@Pawlzee I'm so happy that you survived the craziness surrounding that war when you were 18 and are here listening! Guess it's a little late but want to say a HUGE THANK YOU for your service to our country! Something we ALL should have said to you in the 70's! ; )

[BrownBear92HRM]

love pure love for this song

[kitywompus]

Just started out listening to them. Found out my uncle was the original bassist of Procol Harum. Good stuff.

[takeracdc]

@kitywompus Really man? Is your uncle's name David Knights? If it's true, you're lucky to have a really talented uncle ! Peace.

[kitywompus]

@takeracdc Yes sir! I've never really talked to him too much though since we're in the states and they live in England, but I was glad to start listening to their music!

[chazzman444]

One of my all time favorite songs.

[stuwrightfrom53]

This is a classic of all pop classics...

[deters08]

this song is so good!!!! heard about it in the greatest book ever -- the perks of being a wallflower

[ofabmx]

god damn this song is good........ but rite now i still want to chuck myself under a buss.........

[MrTombstone1954]

the "Miller telling his tale" was also connected with The Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer...

[butterflygirl2475]

Love this song!!!!!! It is a beautiful song!!!!

[lejzer1]

Dr.House brought me here.

[TheWard1987]

one of my dad's classic favourites too!!! today would of been his 68th birthday.love you dad with all my heart.....R.I.P xxxxxx

[troyb1984]

cant go wrong wit da 60s

[MsAlone4now]

Evan, Your dad had great taste in music and I'm sure where ever he is he's proud of you for carrying on his generation of music. Hopefully you will continue and maybe turn on some young people to it. These songs really tell stories where as todays music for the most part is raunch.

Keep it up.

[OokamiSan96]

*-* carina *-*

[imok1996]

Tio Eduardo, Cheira a pé! :D

[AndyHunk10]

A timeless classic.

[Mrrosana31]

Great song, bring back old days

[toysirapuato]

hola talves te aburra mi comentario pero quiero que sepas que es la cancion con la que mas me acuerdo de mi padre no es la letra si no la musica en si que cuando empiesa a sonar me llega el mas profundo recuerdo de ni padre y aunque talves ni me hable ni me recuerde se que sigue vivo y que yo tambien y que talves algun dia deje el los rencores atras y que pueda yo recibir un abrazo de el gracias por ponerlo me gusta

[track2107]

thanks been having the hardest time with the lyrics for past forty years

[ArcticCat50768]

love this song

[GetThisThingCrunk]

so this song is about rape?

[crissangelbetch]

@GetThisThingCrunk i dont see how o.o



[GetThisThingCrunk]

@crissangelbetch And the truth is plain to see

That I wandered through my playing cards,

And would not let her be

One of sixteen vestal virgins

Who were leaving for the coast.

[user98xp]

@GetThisThingCrunk

"The author of Procol Harum: beyond the pale, Claes Johansen, suggests that the song "deals in metaphorical form with a male/female relationship which after some negotiation ends in a sexual act.""

I'm still trying to make sense of it, but here's that for you.

[GetThisThingCrunk]

@user98xp Hey Thanks, doesn't sound like I was too far off. Perhaps something like Indecent Proposal, either way doesn't sound too good.

[user98xp]

@GetThisThingCrunk

I think it's much better if you just think of it as a pretty song... pretty being an understatement.

[joferbrasil]

@user98xp make sense...at 60's. Nowadays, would like to see a girl turning her face ghostly or pale after a sexual proposal! lol

[zekeymanRS]

I have heard that this is the most played song in public places like malls and stores.

[xIIKayze]

BACH

[antstech]

Nice video. My dad also loves this song.

[MegaSherlock]

anyone else recognize this from 'tenth kingdom'?

[vicovico11]

3 personas no conocen el valor de la musica ... que triste :(

[Terrilliser]

3 people were high before they listened to this song!!

[WOLFMANoct1963]

i'm pretty sure it says while mirror told it's tale, that her face at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale?

[RichXZ]

@WOLFMANoct1963 You didn't do Chaucer at school, then? The Miller's Tale was one of the Canterbury Tales

[WOLFMANoct1963]

@RichXZ yes but that doesn't mean they are referring to the miller's tales i take it to mean the mirror told it's tale with the way some one looks i.e. getting older i could be wrong they could be referring to the canterbury tales i've listened to it over and over.sounds like mirror to me.

[Angelia7432]

@WOLFMANoct1963 I love you wolfman

[RichXZ]

You didn't do Chaucer at school, then? The Miller's Tale was one of the Canterbury Tales

[coltkitt]

@CALSTRAN1 Ditto on reading the lyrics some 43 yrs later. Well better late than never as they say and at least we lived long enough to read the lyrics to a great song. LOL It is such a flowery, haunting, ethereal kind of song. Way ahead of its time.

[shadowfall331]

Some messed up lyrics, in a good way. The summer of love forever.

[88meemaw88]

All of these years, I thought the first line of this song was "we skip a life and dangle" and see that it is "we skip a light fandango".

[suzeneka]

Addictive tunes

[RockHard1830]

very nice

[AngieEnz84]

Such pretty music in this song.

[lenamvl]

i know this song the first time in 1975 and i like it till now . the great song will live forever . i live in Viet Nam

[daltonagre]

Good art doesn't gets older. I live in Brazil.

[paula9266]

R.I.P Andy,30.11.2010,will always love u for ever darling,u shouldnt have even been taken away xx

[christine3869]

No kidding! the best slow song ever! Smooth, warm and sooo touching ! love it!

[CALSTRAN1]

WOW!!!!!!!! FINALLY I GET TO READ THE LYRICS AFTER 43 YEARS!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU WITH ALL MY HART TO Edog800.........

[santosfoodbank]

@CALSTRAN1

All kinds of stuff in these lyrics -- a common thread runs through the surrealistic scenes that are projected unto the mind -- Vestal Virgins refers to Vesta the Roman Goddess of the home and hearth -- Ultimately it doesn't matter what they mean or what the author intended -- The goal is to stir the listeners imagination so he or she can conjure up images and interpret it through the prism of his or her own subjectivity. I'm glad that Keith Reid didn't try to explain.

[shadowfall331]

@santosfoodbank Very clever way of putting it.

[Harvey238]

Singing mushrooms!!!

[MrJgossey2002]

Yes they need to play this one more,thanks for the lyrics.almost had them figured out all right..John Lennon was quoted as saying this was one of his all time faves.that says it all! I was fortunate to see them once in 1975

[RNSShepard]

this is great now i can sing along and not miss the words!

[NimirRaCyndal]

My dad left... now he's got two kids from his wife now, and 3 kids from her marraige before. My grandpaw raised me a tomboy girl on a farm... This is to him. I love you papaw.

[Joke9972]

The Catherine wheel, my ex was Katrien, her mother believed in God, her father did so too, but he went to Opus Dei... I don't know if he still lives (I loved this man), but I knew she was dating a priest, whilst she didn't want to... She worked hard in her 'Apotheek', but she mixed alternative science with accurate science...Katrien 'pervertised' (if you wish)

[Joke9972]

The Catherine wheel, my ex was Katrien, her mother believed in God, her father did so too, but he went to Opus Dei... I don't know if he still lives (I loved this man), but I knew she was dating a priest, whilst she didn't want to... She worked hard in her 'Apotheek', but she mixed alternative science with accurate science...

[category51]

thumbs up to all the dad's out there ( two missed the like button or there is something wrong with the music they lusten too)

[category51]

thumbs up to all the dad's out there ( two missed the dislike button or there is something wrong with the music they lusten too)

[skitzoliz15]

I also dedicated this song to my dad. I cry every time I here it.

[lukashope]

great song, thanks ..hope your dad is alright..

[thedoncella1980]

Simplemente la mejor cancion de esas epocas.....

[keolif]

one of greatest song in history

[thespeez]

@keolif - Definitely one of the best slow-dance songs of all time, one that was very much ahead of its time and very underrated IMNSHO.

[savmic3669]

@keolif thank you some one agrees this will be played at my funeral

[iimhungryy]

thanks charlie

[FourFingersUp]

Sorry guys, It'a timeless song and I love it but...

This song is not about death, it's about a trip on a ship and how the party and evening went, ending with a sexual conquest referenced by the "miller" saying "and so it was that later"(telling his buddies) that "her face turned a whiter shade of pale". Meaning the nervousness and fear that one of the "virgins" was having but went along with it, and the regret that followed after. Drunken seduction at a party. A normal college weekend.

[steve2708]

@FourFingersUp sorry m8 but u can deitcate songs to anyone? most of my family are dead and ive named songs to there memory?.

[Neumie7]

@FourFingersUp then i guess, in a symbolic way, it IS a song about death; death of that girls innocence (as it were), especially if she was scared and later regretted it.

[savmic3669]

@FourFingersUp no ummmmmmmmm wat he ment he was at a party and he heard a man say to a girl your a whiter shade of pale meaning drunk

[hollomynameisbob]

putz,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,­,,,falta letra so dumb you writting  wrong this music is not complete next time do this correct

[tmagee43]

this song goes out to my brothers and my mom god rest their soul

[Simbody]

I grew up in that era,and this is one of my favorite songs of the those days. Good job Evan.

[411chihuahua]

thanks a beautiful song! love it!

[nrojasruiz]

Lo dije una vez y lo repito: un tema maravilloso de una epoca bella e inocente...Me recuerda a mi hermano mayor, ya fallecido, y a mis padres conversando en una tarde fria....LA musica tiene la cualidad de retrotraernos a tiempos idos para mejorar de cara al mañana...Gracias a edog800...

[svetlanacat]

related to my Dad s life, also

[snowbella292]

Great Song...Great Tribute!  sorry about your Dad.

[reasonjust]

This is a great song and in my time it was on the radio far more often then I am sure is now. 

[shygirl91744]

Thecoyote974 yes RIP does mean rest in peace.

[1955annemarie]

Another one for those whose hearts still remember...

[merzina]

:):)

[TheCoyote974]

does "R.I.P" means Rest.In.Peace ?? I'm french, I don't understand...

[quo33]

@TheCoyote974 Oui, "rip" veut dire "rest in peace".

[FreeBritain1]

In love with this song for ever. Cheers.

[illupobora]

The history! Procol Harum forever!

[TheChickenhuhn]

it is one of my favourite songs. i don't know how oft i cried to this song.

[AsylumAttendee]

Thanks Charlie :)

[TheRandomSquad101]

this was my Daddy's favorite song too. R.I.P

[Kalabeast08]

Gracias por aportar una versión para aprender ingles.

[bobwardala]

I was told my parents danced to this when they were dating. this song is timeless

[manuzinhoAmigo]

linda musica!!

[mditevi]

thanks Evan

[4m216]

Edog800... do you know the meaning to this song by any chance? i love it but have no idea what it means.

[pennvillage]

Great lyrics, great organ, great voice. Many a young lady was held tight in my arms dancing to this classic!

[mrrrun]

Can somebody explain me about what this song sings about???

[LaffinPumpkin]

thats nice of you to dedicate it to your dad

[hotfurrychick1]

this song makes me cry every time I hear it.... I played this song at my grandmother's funeral because it was her favorite song...

[nyaple]

i heard this song on House the other night and i couldnt figure out what song it was .Tokk me 2 hours to find it. Such a relaxing tune. Grew up listening to classic rock and still listen to it even thought im 24. LOVE IT ALL !!!!!!!

[SgtPeppers196714]

ah, i remember when this song came out. i was ten years old. Those were the good days

[LaffinPumpkin]

lol decicate it to your dad now thats nice

[huckleberryfindehaas]

your soul just closses his eyes and starts to floot on the feeling of this song.

[nyaple]

@huckleberryfindehaas Completey agree.

[Chris090988]

R.I.P Dutch I miss you so much thank you for all that you have done for me I always cry for you when I hear This song :(

[elementjazz]

amazing L)

[resmell101]

me and my mom love this song

[kuicho1]

Thanks for that, the lyrics've been an enigma for me so far...

[DunCarmel]

a great song - wish it is played on radio more!

[TheAdamg7]

@DunCarmel- Its the most played song in public places in the last 75 years!

[torgojr1]

@DunCarmel i wish they played all 50's - 60's song just at least play them

[piponio13]

I never forgot this song. .. a long time ago.. ja ja

[soultech123]

beautiful!!!!!

[49sawman]

best slow song ever

[dtoerge]

@49sawman very nice- cheers to your dad-never knew all the words

[alexpong0]

@49sawman Yes

[Ciaoabh]

@49sawman eh no WORST slow song ever

[loumag7]

Air to the G string,and drums.The best of times.Thanks Procol.

[tfcrew]

Procol Harum is still together

[LiamN294]

His, not my Lol

[LiamN294]

This was one of my grandads funeral songs, its the song he had my first dance with my grandma too it makes me sad when i hear it but i cant help but listen to it :(

[BostonBelle]

Nice tribute... thanks for sharing.  :)

[hormigaferoz]

Thank's!!!it's my favorite song ever!!!

[ralzualde]

Good job for a good father of his good son... Thanks for share with us this nice song... Greetings.

[spidermancupcake]

thanx :)

this is like my moms all-time favorite song and the only line i knew was "whiter shade of pale"

haha but still thank alot

[mummycorinne]

I actually got the words right! I've spent 40 years thinking "no they can't possibly be the right words"! Ta X

[itsjustnancy]

very nice,thank you

[ynot4311]

this and "in my life" by the beatles are my favorite songs ever. (the necromancer by rush is also really close) so much heart and I love the B-3 organ sound.

[abelitro12]

Organ playing in AWSOP and its intriguing lyrics are awesome! Thanks for the video.

[sydfarrett]

bro! thank you thank you thank you i've loved and thought about this song for years and now for the first time i know what he's freaking saying on the chorus. Perfect top-off to just having bought this record! Thanks again. If we ever cross paths it's milla-time!