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

I waited a few days for the lyrics to be posted before commenting. A few years back I started my own list of songs that I felt were important in the history of rock, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” is the first song I put on the list. That haunting B3 with a Leslie is printed in my memory like a tattoo.

Some may know that the R&R HOF added a category this year that honors songs that shaped rock and roll; A Whiter Shade of Pale was among the songs in this, the first class of inductees.

A music video with Harry Dean Stanton.

What is impressive is just how good Gary Brooker sounded decades later around 2006. Crank it up!

That Hammond Organ is absolutely haunting. And those lyrics, they seem very strange yet very familiar at the same time.

Great use of that song in "The Big Chill"

^^^ Perhaps the best soundtrack ever made.