Meagan Graham

                                                                                                                        Tone Essay

                                                                                                                        4/14/14

            Saturday Night Live has a classic sketch in which Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo play Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra. They perform a rendition of “Ebony and Ivory”, it’s a seemingly simple song mocking Frank Sinatra with further inspection the tone changes. The song goes from mockery to sarcasm to a historical mockery or satire. The song at a second glimpse has a deeper meaning than when first heard. It is also possible to see a cynical kind of hate for people who are fans of Sinatra in the song.

            In this rendition of the song the lyrics are very changed. “That was groovy thinkin'
Lincoln, when you set them freeeeeee...” a Joe Piscopo (Sinatra line). At this point in the song we’re only on the second line in and by now it can be told that the song is meant to be a parody.  But there is an obvious attack on Sinatra for his age and his way of thinking. There are many rumors about the kind of man that Sinatra was, one of them being that he was or may have been a little racist. The song continues on mocking him for his old ways.  Whether Sinatra was a racist or not, the song is obviously mocking him.

            Sarcasm in the song may not be vast but it is apparent. "Ebony, ivory
Living in perfect harmony." This is a quote from the original song, describing the writer’s piano and how it plays beautiful music despite the keys being black and white, that both the colors are needed to create music. The writer was expressing how they wanted the world to live, in perfect harmony.  What makes this sarcastic are the lines before, singing of how "You are blind as a bat, and I have sight! Side by side, you are my amigo, Negro, let's not fiiiiiiiight!" They are saying that there is no blindness to “Sinatra” or even the message is meant for the world. Regardless of the message in the song it was sarcasm.

            Line after line in the song makes Frank Sinatra look bad. Although he is not the actual Frank Sinatra just someone portraying him. But none the less there is a cynical intent on making fun of his fandom. The song parody clearly does not portray him in a good light. There’s an attempt at exposing him or somehow putting his dye hard fans into ridicule those who would refuse to some of his more obvious flaws. The tone shifts in this way towards the middle of the song when he starts to interact with Eddie Murphy (Stevie Wonder).

            For a short rendition of a song there are many tone changes. Although there aren’t any clear changes or shifts in the tone, there are many different tones with in the song. More than being surprisingly deep for a parody of a song it is surprisingly full of tone. Through Mockery of a character they created several different tones in the song. Proving comedy can be elaborate and sophisticated.