Tone analysis

Amanda Paulhus

4/5/12

G period

Mr.Kefor

                Though both Boston’s “Rock n Roll Band” and Pink Floyds “Have a Cigar” are both about success in the music industry, “Rock n’ Roll Band” incorporates Local color and a reminiscing tone in order to employ what it is truly like to be “another Band out of Boston” while “Have a Cigar” combines hyperbole and a cynical tone with the aim of explaining “the game” and how to “ride the gravy train”.             

 Local color, details pertaining to a particular geographical location, is used pertaining to New England throughout Boston’s song, “Rock n’ Roll Band”. In the first verse Brad Delp, the lead singer, sings, “we were just another band out of Boston” which is local color pertaining to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Later on in the song he sings, “Playin’ for a week in Rhode Island” Which alludes to the state of Rhode Island which is located in New England. This shows that the band doesn’t travel far to where they play. In the second verse Brad sings, “Dancin’ in the streets of Hyannis”. This allusion to Hyannis, Massachusetts inquires the idea of both weather and setting along with Boston and Rhode Island because of what is known about
New England.

                The manner in which the songwriter uses words to convey a mood, or tone, is used in Boston’s song “Rock n’ Roll Band” in order to portray a reminiscent aspect of the song. Brad sings as if he remembers “playin’ at all the bars, sleepin’ in our cars” which shows how cool they think it is because they used to do it. They also remember “[practicing] right on the street”. Lastly they recall “a man came to the stage one night” and that “he smoked a cigar” and “drove a Cadillac car”. They are reminiscent of this because it was an important memory for them. It was most likely a big day in the music business for them and is important to their music career.  

                Hyperbole, an exaggeration used to create some effect, is used in Pink Floyd’s “ Have a Cigar” in order to show how sleazy the music business can be.  The record dealer or band owner in the song says “I’ve always had a deep respect” which one would believe until he says “which one’s Pink? “ because no one in the band Pink Floyd is actually named Pink so he must know nothing about the band even though he implies he is a fan. Hyperbole is also used when he says their “so happy they can hardly count”. Which alludes to counting money and practically having so much that one cannot even count it.  When the record producer tells them they’ll be “riding the gravy train” he is exaggerating the idea that it will be very easy and smooth for them; that they will have everything they want and need without doing much work.  The last instance of hyperbole occurs when the speaker says “everybody else is just green”.  This exaggeration is meaning to show that everyone else is greedy or jealous of what they have and they wish that they had it all.

                A cynical tone is used in Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” in order to create the idea that the song writer is almost mocking the band and saying that their career is a joke.  Floyd writes “come in here, dear boy have a cigar” which is very most mocking the band or “boy” because he is called “boy” although he would be considered a man and the idea of offering a boy a cigar is mocking him as a person.  In an aforementioned line, Floyd writes “and did we tell you the name of the game boy? \ We call it riding the gravy train”. This also adds to the idea of calling him boy but as well has a demeaning tone because he’s basically saying that this business is a hard game to be in but if you make it, it gets easier. The tone is somewhat sarcastic because the song writer writes “the band is just fantastic, \ that is what I really think”.