So since we didn't allow it to dwarf us, I don't think it did. Overall, you've just got to be thankful for any success that you get, because you don't control it. You've got no say so over it at all, you've just got to be thankful for whatever you get. Which I am. You've come in for some very snide criticism from people dismissing the lyrics as pretentious and psychedelic doggerel.
Nobody likes negative criticism.
You have to take the good with the bad. If you're going to enjoy it when people say positive things and enjoy your work, you've got to accept it when people say negative things. And apparently he said that the only person he thought was any good was 'that Whiter Shade of Pale chap'. I thought that was pretty good praise. More recently, Gary told me that he'd met Salman Rushdie who'd made some very positive comments on the lyrics.