When Ted & I were dating last year, we discovered each other in more ways then one. One particular thing that brought us together was music. Even though I never really know how to play any musical instrument, I have passion for them...especially ones with meaningful lyrics. Ted is an amazing musician, full of soul & a true rocker.Our dates would inadvertently involved some form of discussion on music and songs....and most of the time Ted strumming his guitar, singing to some of my beloved songs.
I remembered one particular discussion was on Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade Of Pale. I told Ted that it is one of my favourite song of all time but I never really understood the meaning in the lyrics.... but thought that it is a song of regrets, about lost love and wanting more. He at first started playing the song then told me that someone had told him that the song was written by a drunkard. Of course I strongly disagreed.... he just de-romanticized one of my romantic song and I couldn't let that happen. At that moment I refused to believed it... So we decided to google and wikipedia the song.
What we discovered was really amazing. First the facts....It was first released in 1967 by a British band Procol Harum. The haunting musical background used part of Bach's "Sleepers,Wake!" and "Air on G String" and the confusing lyrics was written by Keith Reid. Reid mentioned that the song came from the title itself "whiter shade of pale"... a phrased he heard at a party. He then started writing the lyrics around that phrase. What we discovered was, Reid used a lot of references about mythical Miller's Tales, which in fact has none whatsoever meaning in the song.
After much googgling and reading, we found out an article written by some music professor.... who actually wrote a whole thesis about the lyrics. He believed without a doubt that the lyrics was written by Reid when he was in a state if drunkenness & stupor & high on drugs, given the fact that Reid himself is a known Hippies and that " the flower power" was huge at that time. Reid picked up ideas that just came out to him from his reading about the Miller's tale and the Sixteen Vestal Virgins....and just connect the dots according to the song. The second verse when he described " the room was humming harder and the ceiling just flew away".... lyrically described a state of drunkenness. To say the least, Ted & I had a good laugh after that. We learned that some songs are just nice because they are just that....Nice. Sometimes it is better to enjoy a song just because it is pleasant to your ears.
One thing we learned.... if you decide to dig into matters that are deeper then what it really seemed to be, be prepared to find nothing.
Check this out & just enjoy then .... The Song
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