The Open Microphone Blues
William Overington
A nightspot. Somewhere. Sometime. It is quite dark with a little blue
lighting in the background. The members of the band, who are seated on a
raised platform, are largely only visible in silhouette against the blue
light on the wall behind them. There is a mirror ball behind us to our
right and above us. A blue spotlight has been been played onto the mirror
ball and blue spots of light slowly drift from right to left across the
front row of the band. Music is playing. Now it ends. The bandleader
turns to face the audience, of which we are part. He pauses while a little
polite applause takes place. He looks to our left and into the distance.
We are aware of a woman in a long, simple, white dress walking in front of
the band from our left and against the flow of the blue spots of light.
Music starts to play slowly. A slow blues. The bandleader steps backward
slightly as the woman steps onto the platform, smiles at him then turns to
face us, she standing just behind the microphone on a stand that has
remained unused until now. She starts to sing, slowly and gently.
She steps onto the platform
Song lyrics and creative setting written by William Overington
The bandleader greets her
"Sing what you like, please choose,"
She replies in a voice
Gentle and soft
That she'd like to sing the blues
Then she goes on to say
That she knows that the blues
Are really meant to be, well, blue
Nevertheless
Her life is quite happy
And she wonders if a problem would do
When she's searching through clip art
Looking at animals
To express the design that she feels
She's left in a quandary
By the selection provided
It makes her feel down at the heels
She can look where she wishes
In all sorts of places
She looks wherever she may please
She looks on her computer
And on some web pages
And in CDs from magazines
Yet the thing for which she's looking
Seems to elude her
Even if she were to search for an age
Yet all that she wants
Is a straightforward graphic
An okapi to add to her page
She finds many animals
Grazing in clip art
And though they're alright and quite fine
She searches for an okapi
Drawn in full colour
So that she can produce her design
Once on a magazine
She found a new collection
She thought she would float in the air
Yet when she looked through
The drawings of animals
No okapi was there
She dreams of a gif
Or a double u em eff
Maybe a jaypeg would do
Just a line drawn okapi
Coloured in carefully
Just so delightful to view
So she wonders if she's alone
In wanting such a graphic
Will business respond to her need?
Or does the idea
Need putting forward
To act like a sort of a seed?
So she sings of her wishes
Hoping designers
Will draw something that she can use
To enliven her web pages
After her singing
Of her own clip art animal blues
Yes hoping her singing
Will help to diminish
Her own clip art animal blues
Copyright 1999 William Overington