Where Asparagus Grows

William Overington

The pedal steel guitar is moved onto the centre of the stage, for this song is a combination of lyrics and pedal steel guitar, with the pedal steel guitar both accompanying the vocalist and also being a main performer in the instrumental parts.

She realizes that this is an unusual piece. She has rehearsed at length. Now it is right. When she sings, the spotlight will shine upon her. In the instrumental sections she will be in darkness and will walk quietly to the rear of the stage as the slowly moving turquoise and green light spots flow like a rippling river of light around and over the pedal steel guitar player, a master of his skill. The song is somewhat like slow blues in tempo yet happy in its content with a country ambience. It is largely a vehicle for the pedal steel guitar yet it is also a song. She must have impeccable timing and will sing inwardly to herself the words of the instrumental section to ensure that she walks forward and sings at the correct point, while the pedal steel guitar soloist will then play to accompany her singing.

          (In a quiet part of England)
          (Where asparagus grows)
Let me sing to you of landscape
Where clear water flows
In a quiet part of England
Where asparagus grows
Birds in the summer air
Magpies and crows
In lovely rural England
Where asparagus grows
          (Instrumental pedal steel guitar)
          (In the darkness light glows)
          (Turquoise and green entangle)
          (And the music enclose)
          (Pedal steel guitar continues)
          (Instrumental time flows)
          (Soulful and glissando)
          (The instrumental close)
Remember back to winter
When the landscape all froze
In this lovely part of England
Where asparagus grows
Then later in the winter
Some years it snows
Sparkling on the landscape
Where asparagus grows
          (Pedal steel guitar continues)
          (Virtuosity shows)
          (Green and turquoise highlights)
          (A tumbling stream suppose)
          (Rippling in the music)
          (As when a wind blows)
          (While glissando sound notes)
          (Gently superimpose)
Apple blossom on the trees
Flowers on hedgerows
Spring in rural England
Where asparagus grows
          (Now an instrumental verse)
          (How the music slows)
          (Soulful pedal steel guitar)
          (With some dreamy echoes)
Now the time to harvest
Along the raised rows
In spacious rural England
Where asparagus grows
Some goes to the cities
Fine meals to compose
With a taste of rural England
Where asparagus grows
          (With a taste of rural England)
          (Where asparagus grows)
 

The performance is over.  She and the pedal steel guitarist have both played their parts.

Song lyrics and creative setting written in May 1998 by William Overington
Copyright 1998 William Overington