A Whiter Shade of Pale Rare Long Version Procol Harum

[westen44]

You must be the mermaid who took Neptune for a ride

She smiled at me so sadly that my anger straightway died


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIWCSrG1d-Y&list=RDvIWCSrG1d-Y&start_radio=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAINWJiufgo

[uwe]

I still don't know what "We skipped the light Fandango ..." really means, for a time I thought it was passing on an alcoholic beverage like a teetotaler, but my belief was shaken over time.

[4stringer77]

Skipped the light fandango sounds about the same as another popular idiom which is tripped the light fantastic.

[westen44]

I've read about this song over the years.  The revelation to me was what the song actually seems to be about.  It appears that the guy in the song is using quite a bit of pressure to convince a woman to have sex.  This is just my interpretation. 

Nobody here, including myself, is old enough to remember.  But skip the light fandango was a phrase used during World War 2.  It is similar to trip the light fantastic which has already been mentioned.  I looked up the guy who wrote the lyrics.  He said the dark tone of his songwriting (not just on AWSOP) can be traced to his family's experience with the Holocaust.  But I think even with different lyrics AWSOP would have been a gripping, somber song. 

I find the longer version more meaningful.  But either version works well.  When asked what song he thought was the greatest song of the 60s, Ringo Starr said "A Whiter Shade of Pale."  That's coming from a man who was in a band which had a few hits itself, some of which Ringo might could have named.

I'm saying all that I say within the context of rock music.  This is in spite of the fact that some people might say that AWSOP isn't really a rock song. 

[morrow]

I always thought trip the light fandango referred to dancing under those classic old mirror balls they once had in the dance halls.