A Whiter Shade Of Pale lyrics

Ok, I can't let this one go by.

This song is obviously about death from an overdose of drugs. The drug referred to in the song is coke, but it could be any drug overdose. The "miller" is obvious, and is the key to the song's meaning. A "miller" is a type of moth that has white, powdery wings. Look it up. The first verse of the song obviously describes the trip the author is on. Ever been on one? This is exactly it. Could have written this verse if I'd known the words. And who said there was not readily-available coke in the late 60s? You apparently didn't live in the 60s.

Think about it. When is something a whiter shade of pale? Ever seen a corpse in a coffin? Death is when you are a whiter shade of pale. Nothing on earth is the ghostly color of a corpse.

"And so it was that later as the miller[the powdery moth] 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 have just as well've been closed."

The "she" here is death. There is no reason for the author's death. The author here is being mocked by the very drug (death) that enticed him. The author's fate was out of his hands (... I would not let her be) when he became addicted to the drug. His eyes were wide open, but they might have well been closed. Eyes wide open but might have been closed? That's addiction, people.

What I can't believe here, is that folks are even discussing this. The meaning of this song has been well-known for years. Having trouble with the imagery and symbolism? Think Hotel California...

Just like Dylan's Desolation Row the meaning is the juxterpositioning of images in our minds that have no connection to a literal meaning. It's for the enjoyment of the lyrics that areas unique and interesting as the best poetry. Poetry is often the same way. Interesting words and they're sounds. multiple meanings and images with or without rythyms. The music at this period was psychadelic and the surroundings in the discoteques usually complimented the imagery of the lyics. The musicians and the fans dressed in black light or bright colors with Mod hippie styles of British invasion. To me the art and music of that time can be immitated but not repeated. The mind stretching lyrics that many heard while on acid or other intense drugs (like peyote and mesculine NOT meth, crack or angel dust) before it became passe and denigrated because of its association to the rock stars deaths like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison. It was the best of times and the worst of times. From the Viet Nam war, civil rights violence to flowers, peace. All You Need Is Love, make that free love, Haight Ashbury, and Woodstock and finally to Altamont, and the Manson family. What had been a feeling of positive expansion of our consciousness turned into disenchantment and loss of the magical fantasy most young people were exploring. A Whiter Shade of Pale is from the height of that experience. You had to live through it to appreciate it. Hopefully there more great times ahead and not just high gas prices and global warming. Technology will either save us or kill us. Many hard to figure songs will be written along the way. Don't cheat yourself from enjoying them just because they aren't to be taken literally. For years I kepy trying to figure out Desolatoin Row. It and A Whiter Shade of Pale are the Finnagan's Wakes of music lyrics. Peace.