蒼白 Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale - 1967 @ Dog in the yard

已經不記得第一次聽到這首歌是什麼時候了。最有可能是在五專時瘋趕場跳舞的時期。那時的舞會很陽春，也沒有所謂的DJ，播音樂的通常是比較懂西洋音樂的大學生，雖然我的西洋音樂啟蒙是在國中時跟著上大學的大哥一起聽，但感謝這些舞會裡的音樂高手，讓我有機會在那段時間大量地接觸除了所謂舞會熱門歌曲之外的領域。若不是因為這樣，也不會為了搞懂歌曲裡到底在唱什麼，拼命查字典，學了許多課本外的詞彙跟字彙。

但是這首歌，我至今仍然不是很懂得。是的，每個字我都知道，每句話都懂，但是我依然不明白其中的意思。而最讓我著迷的是，這首歌非常有畫面感。雖然以第一人稱敘述，但這第一人稱又同時像是故事的旁觀者及參與者，而聽著這首歌的我，又是更外一層的旁觀者。

寫這首的人曾這麼說過：

“It’s sort of a film, really, trying to conjure up mood and tell a story. It’s about a relationship. There’s characters and there’s a location, and there’s a journey. You get the sound of the room and the feel of the room and the smell of the room. But certainly there’s a journey going on, it’s not a collection of lines just stuck together. It’s got a thread running through it….I feel with songs that you’re given a piece of the puzzle, the inspiration or whatever. In this case, I had that title, ‘Whiter Shade of Pale,’ and I thought, There’s a song here. And it’s making up the puzzle that fits the piece you’ve got. You fill out the picture, you find the rest of the picture that that piece fits into.”

在看到這段文字很久之前，就已經如同他說的，我看到了畫面，可以感覺到那個場景，聽到那些聲音，甚至聞到那個氣味，但，至今我還是沒找到那塊拼圖，仍看不清故事的端倪，二十多年過去，依然困擾著我。

不過Procol Harum是一個標榜復古及隱喻的英國團體，謎樣的風格，正是魅力所在吧！

整首歌我只聽出四種聲音：風琴、鼓、Bass、Vocal，編曲很沉穩簡單。從一開始的風琴，就有一股風暴之後的平靜，鼓點是非常好的提味，Bass隱身在後，靜默地挑動，不斷重複的曲調像是一種輪迴。我曾試著想像，如果用其他的樂器取代風琴，是否仍能保有這樣的韻味？或許是因為被洗腦太久，覺得再也沒有其他樂器能有更充分的情緒表現那樣華麗的悲涼了。或許薩克斯風能有像風琴那般的尾韻，但後來發現其實主唱的聲音，已經近似薩克斯風，在我聽來，與風琴相互的搭配，是完美的和諧。

這首歌收錄在1967年發行的專輯中，已經歷經47年。從年輕到現在，依然覺得它是不朽的經典，適合在深夜倒上一杯好酒，用平靜清醒卻又漂浮暈眩的神智去感覺它（戴上耳機會是個好選擇），或許會讓人笑、或許會讓人哭、或許會讓你發現那片遺失的拼圖。

這首歌有兩個版本，因為原版本太長，所以在專輯裡收錄短版，長版只在演唱會中會出現。

短版

We skipped the light Fandango
Turned cartwheels across the floor
I was feeling kind of 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 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 straight away 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