Still Curious: A Whiter Shade of Pale

All right. I’ve had it. I’ve been wanting to know what the song A Whiter Shade of Pale by the band Procol Harum is about since 1967, when I first heard it. (If you think that’s procrastination, let me tell you about my fiction writing.) I’m going to find out.

My wife has taken a shine to the singer Sarah Brightman, and that’s what sparked this. On one of the soprano’s albums, apparently in an effort to appeal to the pop music side of the tracks, Brightman sang A Whiter Shade of Pale. The singing seemed lacklustre, not really stretching her at all of course, but what struck me more was the wonderful orchestral arrangement. It conveyed the wistful solemn majesty of the song so well, and made me realize that the melody and song have become a kind of pop music standard. And I still have no idea what the song means.

(Here’s a video of the song by another singer, Liza Veiger, where again I enjoy the orchestra’s playing probably more than the singer’s interpretation. I haven’t linked to a Brightman video, since I find distracting how much she’s in love with herself. And here is Procol Harum’s performance for contrast.)

The band in various incarnations is still playing occasionally, and only last year celebrated 40 years of AWSoP, as it is known to the cognoscenti.

Even the band’s name is mysterious. Some have said that “Procol Harum” comes from the Latin for “beyond these things.” Unfortunately that turns out to be really bad Latin, and the true story seems to be that their manager took it from a pedigree cat of a friend of his.

(Now my question, in the spirit of investigative reporters everywhere, is where did the cat get it? A fellow named Sam Cameron was of a like mind, and detailed his investigation here. Marcus Gray has also followed the trail of the cat.)

In any case, the band formed in 1966 around the songwriting skills of Keith Reed and pianist Gary Brooker. AWSoP was released in 1967 around the same time as the Moody Blue’s orchestral Nights in White Satin and signalled the emergence of the “progressive rock” sub-genre.

The mysterious words of the song are more an evocation of a feeling than a description of some melancholy event. Reed says he overheard the phrase that became the song title at a party where a man described a woman friend as being “a whiter shade of pale.” (For the full song lyrics, see this web page.)

“We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more

…She said, ‘There is no reason
and the truth is plain to see.’
But I wandered through my playing cards
and would not let her be
one of sixteen vestal virgins
who were leaving for the coast”

This reminds me of the similar line in Don McLean’s American Pie, which has many musical allusions: …the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/They caught the last train for the coast”. (It’s interesting to think about what “coast” means or evokes: some place better or just other, where another life, or heaven, begins….)

“…She said, ‘I’m home on shore leave,’
though in truth we were at sea
so I took her by the looking glass
and forced her to agree…”

The best I can make out is that there’s a woman involved, a conflict or rejection, and sorrow at some kind of parting. But this superficial, simplistic reading pales in comparison to some other interpretations, ranging from the sinking of the Titanic to penile dysfunction to a description of death by drug overdose. But I agree most with Martin Scorsese’s summation of it as a song of loss.

Many are those who have covered the tune. Take a look at this list of a multitude of versions.  The Romantic Saxophone Quintet is there as is I Dik Dik, Jakie Lovebar, and the Big Ben Hawaiian Band.

This page at the “semi-official fan site” also lists song covers, with considerably more detail.

So I have largely satisfied my curiosity. I’m willing to allow the lovely ambiguity of the words and the poignancy of the music evoke nostalgia for that time when I first heard the song, and to let it call forth that sense of magnificent loss barely contained.

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Note on sources:

A lot of this information came from the very detailed Procol Harum fan site which they say is updated daily.

The images from the top down are from:

1) http://tjclassic69.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

2) http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2008/04/news_digest_friday_april_4.html

3) http://flickr.com/photos/9080016@N06/2085200848/

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