Whiter Shade Of Pale - psych or prog?

'I never understand when people say they don't understand it,' said Reid. '"We skipped the light fandango"'. That's straightforward. "Turned cartwheels across the floor." It seems very clear to me.' Nervously, I hazarded my own reading, the summation of my voluntary immersion in the world of A Whiter Shade of Pale, and much pondering on its significance. Is it about getting pissed and fancying the person opposite you? 'It's a story, a journey, seen from the point of view of a man character.'

The song explores what it means to be wrecked, in more than one sense of the word. A nervous seducer sustains his courage with alcohol. As he becomes more drunk, his impressions of his unfamiliar partner become confused by stray thoughts, fragments of childhood reading and his own faint-hearted aspirations. The song's recurring metaphor is of maritime disaster, and a parallel is drawn between romantic conquest and the allure and peril of the sea. The hero is a callow juvenile, far happier with a book than risking the emotional bruising of relationships. This ambivalence is underscored by frequent allusions to nausea."