It is never too late! Almost after
40 years of dilemmas about the real meaning of the immortal lyric of the song "A Whiter Shade
of Pale" I accidentally bumped into the answer:
'The meaning of this song has been well-known
for years'
(Contributor's name removed at her own request)
A now-anonymous contributor sent BtP this
combative contribution to the AWSoP words debate. We have not troubled to add [sic] to this article.
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. A miller is any 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.
[Who? The webmasters of this site didn't miss much of the 50s]
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 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, folks. "You can check out any
time you like, but you can never leave." What in the world do you think
that song is about? It's about the very same thing, except in PH's song it
describes the trip a little more graphically. This is not difficult, this is
very simple. Don't try to make it more complicated than it is.
It's all about drug addiction, a hard trip. It's all about death from something
that controls you that is out of your hands. For the addict who eventually ODs,
his/her fate was sealed the first time he/she succumbed to the seduction of
Death (which is in the form of the drug.)
Years later (May 2010) the same
contributor sent this illuminating codicil
Many years ago and late in the night I wrote what I thought at the time was
the meaning of a song. Clearly, I stepped into something that is very important
to people although I didn't realise it at the time and I was being glib and a
bit of a smarty pants having fun with the idea of discerning a song. That was
long ago, but still I get e-mails from people about it. Actually, most people
who write me agree with whatever I claimed to have known about the song and
want to discuss the song further with me.
I wrote whatever it was I wrote because of a thought in a single moment that it
would be fun to participate in the discussion. I didn't expect a life-long
commitment to the project of discerning the meaning of a song that apparently
means a lot to many people. I am sorry I started this. [...] Everyone who has
e-mailed me has been very nice, so I am not complaining about that. I just
don't have time to reply to everyone. [...] You run a very nice website and I
really didn't realise how important it is to people. For that, I apologise; I
meant no disrespect to your site.
Shane Pickerill writes to BtP (July 2008)
I'm a huge fan of the song A Whiter Shade of Pale. I enjoy finding
meaning in song lyrics, and this song has so much to offer. I was
troubled to find the article on your website by the now-anonymous contributor
(above). Most art can be interpreted in multiple ways. Her article
was troubling to me because she is demeaning someone that is looking to find
meaning in this song. Also, she thinks that there is only one
interpretation of the song, which I find disturbing. Although I welcome
multiple ideas about the meaning of this song, her idea that the miller in
the song is a moth is laughable. For someone so advanced and knowing, she
really missed the mark on this.
In this article Keith Reid says that the song was a girl-leaves-boy story and
that the writing was influenced by books, not drugs.
I'm reading ATale of Two Cities and this is a line I just encountered in the
book. This spurred me to write you this e-mail: "Monseigneur,
he was whiter than the miller. All covered with dust, white as a spectre, tall
as a spectre!"
I will post your hip hop music video to one of the largest hip hop
mixtape websites online - for only 
