Though both, “have a cigar” and “Rock’n Roll band” talk about the same subject of a band’s life, in “have a cigar”, Pink Floyd uses a cynical tone and a manager’s point of view, showing the negative and manipulative aspects the music industry, while in “Rock’n Roll”, Boston connect an excited tone with memory related imagery, giving their audience the impression of the positive and fun sites of their band life.
The mocking tone, Pink Floyd use in “have a cigar” serves as an imitation of a band manager, smoking a cigar and inviting a boy in, in order to prophesy him a rich music-future. Obviously the Speaker is eager for money and seems pretty egoistic. With his cigar he just talks about what will come and how to make more money out of the success of others. The cigar carries a symbolic meaning, since it occurs in both songs related to Band Managers. “We call it riding the Gravy Train” lets the audience picture the fat, gold and dripping liquid. It seems rich and beautiful on one hand, but on the other hand the second thought will bring the truth: It is gross waste-fat. What seems pretty on the surface is anything but pretty on the inside. This can easily be related to the band- business, this man is talking about.
In “Rock’n Roll band” the excitement of the songwriters (Boston), who are the speakers as well is primary. Although “plain’ all the bars, sleepin’ in our cars” doesn’t seem to be the most wonderful thing in the world, they seem happy about it. Spending the night in a car is one of the most uncomfortable things ever. The seats don't leave the room almost everybody needs to get a nice and proper rest. Probably the nights they spent in this uncomfortably position, getting nearly no sleep, were by far not as much fun as in their memories. But memories change the perception they had back then. In memory, everything seems better and more fun than it actually was. In this song, the band manager is described as a rich man as well, when he meets the band in Rhode Island. “He smoked a big cigar, drove a Cadillac car”, and promises the boys the same glory future, Pink Floyd's Manager promises the boy in “have a cigar”.
Though both songs talk about the same thing, it is interesting to take a deeper look under the surface and see how different they actually are.
The second group that performed this play did a really good job. They were acting like they were at a school and it worked out very well. There were teachers in it, a jock, and other students as well. This group did a lot better than mine, in my opinion. But I give them a lot of props and hope they get a good grade that they deserve. colin Feeney
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