Have A Cigar - Pink Floyd (1975)

Group: Pink Floyd
Writer: Roger Waters

Composer: Roger Waters

Recorded: January - July 1975

Album: Wish You Were Here

Come in here, Dear boy, have a cigar.
You're gonna go far,

You're gonna fly high,

You're never gonna die,

You're gonna make it, if you try;

They're gonna love you.

Well I've always had a deep respect,

And I mean that most sincerely.

The band is just fantastic,

That is really what I think.
Oh by the way, which one's Pink?

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?
We call it Riding the Gravy Train.
 
We're just knocked out.
We heard about the sell out.
You gotta get an album out.
You owe it to the people.
We're so happy we can hardly count.
Everybody else is just green,
Have you seen the chart?

It's a hell of a start,
It could be made into a monster
If we all pull together as a team.

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.


How It Applies to My Approach to Good and Evil
and
Why It is One of My Favorite Examples of Monster Music

While this song probably doesn't sound like it would be a monster song, I decided it qualified because it is about the corrupt music industry. Many artists, including Roger Waters, the writer of this song, have shown complete and utter distaste for the music industry because it is run by greed and exploitation. Many record executives try to deceive people new to the music industry into making them money, all with little gain for the actual musicians. This song fits that perfectly because it shows how the record executive, who is speaking the lyrics, is trying to to show that he cares about the band members. In reality, however, Roger Waters and Pink Floyd learned that many record executives thought nothing of the band; instead, they put on a false persona in order to trick the band into signing onto a record label. Greed leads people from group (X) into group (Y), often through deception.

I like this song for a few reasons. One, Pink Floyd is my favorite band, so I pretty much automatically like it. Secondly, I like the lyrics because they really show how nice record executives can be, but having researched Pink Floyd, I have seen blatantly otherwise. Their shallow praise is shown by the line "By the way, which one's Pink?" Anybody who knows anything about Pink Floyd knows that its just a name of the band, nothing else. I also like the song because it has one of my favorite guitar solos of all time at the very end.


The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden (1982)

Group: Iron Maiden
Writers: Steve Harris

Composer: Steve Harris

Recorded: 1982

Album: The Number of the Beast

Woe to You Oh Earth and Sea
for the Devil sends the beast with wrath

because he knows the time is short

Let him who hath understanding
reckon the number of the beast
for it is a human number
its number is six hundred and sixty six.


I lived alone my mind was blank

I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind


What did I see? Could I believe? That what I saw
that night was real and not just fantasy


Just what I saw in my old dreams were they

reflections of my warped mind staring back at me?


'Cause in my dreams it's always there the evil face that twists my mind
and brings me to despair


Night was black was no use holding back

'Cause I just had to see was someone watching me

In the mist dark figures move and twist

was all this for real or just some kind of hell

666 the Number of the Beast

Hell and fire was spawned to be released


Torches blazed and sacred chants were praised

as they start to cry hands held to the sky

In the night the fires are burning bright

the ritual has begun Satan's work is done

666 the Number of the Beast

Sacrifice is going on tonight


This can't go on I must inform the lord
Can this still be real or just some crazy dream?

but I feel drawn towards the chanting hordes

seem to mesmerize...can't avoid their eyes

666 the Number of the Beast

666 the one for you and me


I'm coming back I will return

And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn

I'll have the fire I'll have the force

I'll have the power to make my evil take its course


How It Applies to My Approach to Good and Evil
and
Why It is One of My Favorite Examples of Monster Music

The monster in this song is more straightforward than my previous song. The song is about a man who lies awake in bed and recalls a nightmare he had in which he comes across people worshiping Satan. At first disgusted, he hates the people, but as he looks further into their dancing and more closely analyzes their chanting, he gets sucked in and becomes one of them. This shows reification as well, only this time, the lone member outside the group is the good person, the (X), while everybody worshiping Satan is a (Y). However, as the song progresses, the main character gets progressively more intrigued with the ritual. This connection with the chanting and dancing people pushes him towards the (Y) category, a status he assumes when he returns to the group and begins engaging in their activities.

I like this song because I think it tells a good story and has a good moral; the moral being that if you get to engaged and intrigued by something evil, whether it is actually Satan, or something like drugs, the more it sucks you in, until finally, you are unable to escape its grasp. This song is one of my absolute favorite Iron Maiden songs, and I think that the song, and the album it comes off of, is quintessential for any true metal fan to own because it tells a great story and has great music.