Veronika, der Lenz ist da by Comedian Harmonists (1930)
Single · 2:40
Germany's most beloved vocal group sang that spring had come and the "asparagus" was growing, and every German since has known which asparagus.
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What the title means
"Veronika, spring is here." The verses list what spring does to young girls, young boys and grandparents, and the line everyone waits for announces that the "asparagus" is growing. It is not asparagus, and it is not a gardening tip.
What the song is actually about
Walter Jurmann wrote the tune and Fritz Rotter the words, after a poem by Otto Licht, and the Comedian Harmonists recorded it in 1930 at the peak of their fame: six men in white tie, close harmony, impeccable diction, and a lyric that is a chain of double entendres about what the season does to everybody. The "asparagus" is the famous one. Spargelzeit, asparagus season, is a real German spring institution, and the song made sure it would never again be only about vegetables, which German farmers have had to live with ever since.
The group was broken up by the Nazi regime in 1935 because three of its members were Jewish, and Veronika became the song most associated with them, revived by every tribute act since, Max Raabe's Palast Orchester and the Berlin Comedian Harmonists among them. It is still a spring standard, sung by people who know exactly why they are laughing.
Its afterlife is the vegetable. Germany has a word for the first asparagus of spring and a song for what it stands for, and more than ninety years on the Comedian Harmonists remain the politest entry on this list and the only one with a harvest calendar.
The line
“Veronika, der Spargel wächst”Covers and versions
- Max Raabe & Palast Orchester
- Berlin Comedian Harmonists
Asked
- What does Veronika, der Lenz ist da mean?
- "Veronika, spring is here"; the song's best-known joke is that the asparagus is growing, and the asparagus is a penis.
- Who wrote Veronika, der Lenz ist da?
- Walter Jurmann composed it and Fritz Rotter wrote the words, after a poem by Otto Licht; the Comedian Harmonists recorded it in 1930.
- Who still performs it?
- Max Raabe's Palast Orchester and the Berlin Comedian Harmonists, among others.
- How do we know it's about a dick?
- Documented. The double entendre is described in the Songlexikon entry and the German encyclopaedias; the authorship and the 1930 recording are on German Wikipedia.songlexikon.de ↗de.wikipedia.org ↗
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