One interpretation reads that the song held odd and unrelated lyrics, possibly from a poem by Reid about boy/girl relationships that used sailing metaphors, which were a pun on or spoof of the psychedelic songs written at the time which had bizarre metaphors and droll phrases. - SO WHAT HELP IS THAT!!!! -- I've still no idea - do you?
2007-09-04 18:28:06 · 7 answers · asked by ? 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Heh. I actually found the real scoop on this with some careful searching.
It's about a near-plane-crash that the songwriter experienced. The plane hit a patch of turbulence, and it became so violent that the passengers all thought they were going to crash and die.
That's why he was feeling seasick, and the room was humming, etc., and why the waiter brought a whole tray of drinks over, when they called for one. (Might as well drink to calm their nerves and distract them from thinking about the fact that they might die.)
The second verse is more abstractly lyrical, but "although my eyes were open they might have just as well've been closed" is a pretty good description of blind fear to my ears.
The last lines of the extended lyrics express this a little more obviously than the rest.
(from procolharum.com)
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 have just 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
Makes sense to me.
2007-09-04 21:28:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't need to know. It is a beautiful song.
I thought of it however at an examination by a neuro-opthalmologist. The chart really was white on a whiter shade of pale.
2007-09-04 18:36:17 · answer #2 · answered by Canute 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't mean a thing. The fellow who wrote it, Gary Brooker says it doesn't mean anything, the lyrics were chosen as they scanned well and sounded vaguely psychedelic and quasi mystical.
2007-09-04 19:50:52 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
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
2007-09-04 18:33:37 · answer #4 · answered by Sal*UK 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think they were on drugs,maybe it dosen't make sense to anyone else,guess you either like the song or you don't.
2007-09-04 18:38:37 · answer #5 · answered by To-Dream-of-Wolves ^. .^ © 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's already been answered.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061013084946AApSz7h
2007-09-04 20:47:41 · answer #6 · answered by syllylou77 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is about nightmarish death.
2007-09-04 18:58:04 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋