reid • brooker • fisher
Only Gary Brooker and Keith Reid were credited on Procol Harum's debut single from May 1967. 38 years later, organist Matthew Fisher filed a lawsuit, and won the rights for co-authoring - though losing royalities from earlier than 2005. Maybe Reid is the only man with good conscience here, because he wrote the lyrics only inspired by various literature, not by one author in particular. Brooker & Co ripped a lot from J.S.Bach's "Air, Suite No. 3 in D major". The famous bass line - in classic music called "ground bass" - is used in a helluwa lot of popular music, but sure : that's the way music evolves.
The song is widely covered - way past 400 times, especially in the late sixties - and the lyrics have caused a lot of interpreting. But Reid never intended to be mysterious : he wanted to write a good-working lyric, and succeded. He describes a party scene with an inevitable end, and in mind he had a remark from an earlier party : «your face just turned a whiter shade of pale», which has become a literal notion ever since. He wrote four verses and a refrain, only 2 verses were used for the original and later covers, and the meaning - if any - grew dim. Here's the complete lot; rarely used.
we skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more
the room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
when we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray
and so it was that later
as the miller told his tale
that her face : at first just ghostly
turned a whiter shade of pale
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
and although my eyes were open
they might as well've been closed
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
saying «you must be the mermaid
who took Neptune for a ride»
but she smiled at me so sadly
that my anger straightway died
if music be the food of love
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean
my mouth by then like cardboard
seemed to slip straight through my head
so we crash-dived straightway quickly
and attacked the ocean bed
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D F#m Bm we skipped the light fandango Em Em7 turned cartwheels cross the floor A A7 I was feeling kinda seasick D F#m A7sus4 but the crowd called out for more G Em7 the room was humming harder A A7 as the ceiling flew away D F#m Bm when we called out for another drink G A7sus4 the waiter brought a tray A13 D F#m Bm and so it was that later Em Em7 as the miller told his tale A A7 that her face : at first just ghostly D Em7 D turned a whiter shade of pale
