Concerning tone in Pink Floyd and Boston

Though both Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” and Boston’s “Rock n’ Roll Band” employ tone as their main focus, they use it in vastly different ways. The tone of Pink Floyd’s song is cynical and bitter, while the tone of Boston’s musical piece is simply enthusiastic and nostalgic. Tone is a literary technique that indicates the opinion of the speaker or the songwriter in regards to the subject of the lyrics. A very important difference between the two types of tone is that while the tone of the speaker indicates the way the words are spoken, the tone of the songwriter emphasizes the actual lyrical content. Both of these musical pieces have similarities and differences among their factions of tone, which allows these pieces to be easily used to understand tone.

In Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar,” the tone of the speaker and the tone of the songwriter are vastly different. Initially, the tone of the speaker seems pleased, proud, and excited for the band. But if one were to look into the actual lyrics and point of view of the songwriter, one realizes that in fact the song means the exact opposite. The songwriter of this song doesn’t actually care about the band, only how much money they’ll earn him. This is evident by the line at the end of the first verse, “Oh by the way, which one’s Pink?” The owner of the band doesn’t realize that none of the band members go by the name Pink; it’s simply the name of the band. This lack of respect towards the basic facts of the band emphasizes the difference in tone between songwriter and speaker, because the speaker feels excited about their band being great, while the songwriter only cares about the money.

Boston’s “Rock n’ Roll Band” also utilizes tone in their musical piece, but in a dissimilar way. “Rock n’ Roll Band” is a very upbeat and excited song. The speaker and songwriter in this case happen to be the same, very different from Pink Floyd’s song. The tone of the speaker is one of jubilant success and fame, especially during the chorus where the singer goes into an ecstasy of “play” and “yeah”, indicating his excitement for playing rock and roll. However, the songwriter refers to all their successes in the past tense, but still with joy. If one could imagine the speaker and the songwriter standing side by side, the speaker would be the young rock star traveling the country, and the songwriter the old man reminiscing on those past glories. In a way, this song is a dichotomy of an old man singing with a young man’s voice, a combination that deepens the true meaning of the song.

Separately, both Pink Floyd’s and Boston’s musical pieces use tone in ways that exemplify the best usage of the device. However, when compared together and against each other, one starts to see their differences in procedure. For example, the opposition of excitement and cynicism of tone in “Have a Cigar” is worlds apart from “Rock n’ Roll Band” using a young speaker with an old mind. Both pieces stress the idea of making a musical piece with a disparity of the two main tones, yet they achieve this in vastly different ways. Pink Floyd’s two tones are nearly direct opposites in opinion, yet from the same time. Boston’s two tones are actually the same tone from two different periods of time, during and after success. Overall, the two tones of “Have a Cigar” and the two tones of “Rock n’ Roll Band” together create a picture that instructs the listener to understand the difference not only between the tone of the speaker and the tone of the songwriter, but also the difference of one of these types of tone across songs.

Joni Mitchell's "Little Green" song analysis

This is an analysis of Joni Mitchell's "Little Green".

Parents have to value the happiness of their offspring over their own happiness.  Joni Mitchell was faced with this dilemma in 1965.The young musician was heavily pregnant and very poor. She wouldn’t be able to raise her child well, if at all, so she gave her little girl up for adoption when she was born. This broke the young artist’s heart, but she knew her daughter would grow up better than the life Joni could provide. Joni Mitchell makes use of comparisons to nature, the opinions of significant others, and various characterizations to show that “sometimes there’ll be sorrow” in life, but there is also joy in the mix.

Joni Mitchell uses comparisons to nature in her musical piece. Life, like nature, is filled with both sorrow and joy. Life is destined from birth to grow old and eventually die. In the same way, so are our loves. For example, cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds’ nests so as to have them raised better. Joni makes references to “crocuses” and “Northern Lights” to relate her sorrow and hope for her child. Overall, the relations to nature used combine to form something both happy and sad, sorrow and joy.

This artist also incorporates people she knew at the time into her musical piece. She mentions a “he”, who “went to California/Hearing that everything’s warmer there”. This he is the child’s father, who didn’t or couldn’t stay with Joni to raise their child. Joni probably feels a bit vindictive towards this man, as he wouldn’t stay with them. Joni also mentions that she is a “Child with a child pretending”, meaning that she herself is young, and has parents still. Her parents would probably be disappointed and maybe a bit scared for her, if they knew. All in all, Joni’s citations of her family show that life contains facets both good and bad.

Finally, Joni Mitchell uses various characterizations and personifications of important aspects of her life in her song. One of these that are used is her general outlook towards her actions of giving her child up for adoption. The musician states that she is “sad” and “sorry, but not ashamed”. Joni knows that her actions ultimately affected her child positively, so she’s not ashamed about them. Had she made a decision that kept her happy, her child would have been much worse off. On the whole, characterizations are used to great use in Joni Mitchell’s musical piece.

Reviewing this entire musical composition, the final meaning becomes very clear. Joni Mitchell wants her listeners to learn this message: Life has happiness and sorrow. One cannot exist without the other. Sacrifices must be made, and life-changing decisions often have a lesser of two evils quandary. Joni is also teaching that there is no such things as black or white, just varying shades of grey. Taken as an entire musical piece, taking into account the musician’s previous life experiences, Joni Mitchell is teaching her audience a very important message of love and sacrifice, a message that can be applied to all time periods.

My Theme/Genre With Which I Am To Analyze

For my Poetry of Song class this year, I plan on analyzing and reviewing Steampunk music. Steampunk, at it's core, is a juxtaposition of futuristic technology with Victorian era culture or sentiments. This retro and anachronistic view on history allows for many versions that fall under the same brand of Steampunk. For example, both Gothic and western style music can fall under Steampunk occasionally. Abney Park is the frontrunner of the Steampunk music industry, having created five albums to date within the last five years. Steampunk music often contains outdated or unusual instruments to show the speculative and alternative history it portrays. Other Steampunk artists include Professor Elemental, The Cog is Dead, and Voltaire.