| are part of the world of music - or vice versa. | | | | at the time but left off of the original album, |
| After all, a lot of great pop and jazz music has | | | | celebrates the way that "A little flat tin case |
| been created by people who cut their teeth | | | | … and one of those ciggie lighters that look |
| playing in ultra-smoky bars, and Cuban folk music | | | | rather good" can help make a lame party "swing |
| features an entire tradition of songs about cigars. | | | | again." The protagonist of the song finds himself |
| Such musicians as Miles Davis and, more recently, | | | | trapped in a world full of uncomprehending |
| Arturo Sandoval have smoked cigars, and | | | | cigarette smokers, who don't know what they're |
| legendary cigar maker and connoisseur Avo | | | | missing, but his small cigars can still change life for |
| Uzevian is, in his turn, a jazz pianist. | | | | the few connoisseurs who know a great smoke |
| It's no surprise, then, that references to cigar | | | | when one's offered to them. What cigar smoker |
| smoking turn up in a number of rock, rap and | | | | can't relate? Indeed, despite the fact that the |
| country songs - especially given the recent | | | | song was only officially released in 2002, there's |
| popularity of the old-fashioned, '50s-style playboy | | | | already a clip of a guy singing it on YouTube. |
| persona among rappers, a style choice with which | | | | Our last stop is Pink Floyd's cynical classic "Have a |
| fine cigars blend right in. (Think of Jay-Z and his | | | | Cigar," which occupies a strategically crucial spot |
| tailored business suits, or the amount of fine | | | | (Side Two, Track One) on the British prog-rock |
| Scotch consumed in rap videos.) Everything old is | | | | group's legendary Wish You Were Here album. |
| new again, and here we consider several songs - | | | | That's the one with the businessman-on-fire album |
| both old and new - that might serve as anthems | | | | cover, which is itself a matter of legend: a |
| for a good cigar-smoking session. | | | | longtime rumor held that the man depicted |
| Country singer Brad Paisley narrates the penalty | | | | actually caught fire during the photo-shoot, |
| for lawbreaking on his wryly humorous "The Cigar | | | | motivating Pink Floyd to use a different image |
| Song." Paisley tells us about the box of fine | | | | after initial album pressings. (This is just an urban |
| Cubans he managed to snag, despite his concerns | | | | legend; you'll be glad to know that the man |
| about their high cost; he's so happy that he ends | | | | survived that day's photo shoot just fine.) |
| up having them all insured. A few weeks later he | | | | Speaking of businessmen, "Have a Cigar" is |
| reports to his insurance agent that, through "a | | | | essentially a story-song, in which the members of |
| series of small fires," all the cigars in his insured | | | | the classic-prog band are ushered into the office |
| box have been destroyed. Unbelievably, he | | | | of an uncomprehending record-company |
| collects a huge settlement (with which he plans to | | | | executive and offered a cigar, some patronization, |
| buy more Cubans), but ends up being charged | | | | and - perhaps - a ticket to ride the "gravy train." |
| with insurance fraud and sent to jail - where he | | | | According to devoted Pink Floyd fans, the song is |
| can only afford to smoke ten-cent cigars. All in all, | | | | the band's somewhat-bitter response to the |
| the song offers a hard-hitting take on the serious | | | | sudden fame thrust upon them as a result of the |
| social problem of … cigar-related insurance | | | | preceding album, Dark Side of the Moon (that's |
| fraud. | | | | the one that supposedly was made to |
| Jethro Tull proclaims, with great earnestness, that | | | | synchronize with The Wizard of Oz; this band |
| "A small cigar can change the world," on "A Small | | | | sure does inspire a lot of urban legends). In any |
| Cigar," a bonus track included on the recent | | | | case, it's the song that gave us that classic |
| reissue of their 1976 concept album Too Old to | | | | musical question: "Which one of you is Pink? |
| Rock'n'Roll/Too Young to Die. The song, recorded | | | | |