James Newton Howard Quotes

Music can be witty, but it's not funny unless it's conceptually funny.

There's a long tradition - certainly with country, but in all kinds of genres of music - to have humorous lyrics. Certainly with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and, if you look at country, Roger Miller and Jim Stafford.

Whenever I do a parody it's not meant to make you hate anybody's music really.

There are bands that make parodies of being in a band, like Spinal Tap. That's a big influence. They're making fun of a rock band, but they write lyrics that are better than real rock bands.

It's very difficult to be funny musically. I think I achieved It with 'The Pink Panther.'

It is easy to misunderstand what a comedy song is, or what its potential is. I'm used to musical comedy being maligned as an easy artform.

I want to be taken seriously as the type of musician that plays stuff like an electric rake. I mean, how seriously do you take someone like Spike Jones? They take him pretty seriously - a really good musician who made a great contribution in terms of humor, which is part of what I try to do too.

Cheech and I used to call ourselves musicians; we never called ourselves comedians. We were musicians that were funny.

There's been so many different types of musicals, and it's a funny genre because there's a fine line between clever and stupid. It really takes a genius to know how to do it.

Guitar solos, to me, should be a really articulate way to make fun of guitar solos.

A melody without the right rhythm hardly exists.

I always dreamed of writing in an orchestral context. But when you finish a piece, you want to hear it. So we played everything with Phish.

If you're going to start with melody you'll need some tympani, I think.

There are a lot of songs that would ostensibly be a good candidate for parody, yet I can't think of a clever enough idea.

Since the big band started I'm just always swamped with movies and things. It certainly pays the bills and it's very satisfying, because I get to write all these big charts and all this crazy music.

When you are proud of something you have done, and you have made a film you feel has merit, and it's found an audience and is critically well received, that's a pretty pleasurable place to be. I mean, you don't want it gathering dust at the bottom of someone's DVD collection.

How do I put this? 'Glee' is like 'High School Musical' if 'High School Musical' had its stomach punched and its lunch money stolen.

When I don't know what the music is going to be for a scene, I imagine some sort of orchestration going on and damned if they don't usually come up with a similar kind of thing.

To me, the musical is best when it's a musical comedy. So if you have a very, very funny show, and very good, funny songs, that's what the musical does best.

As a designer, you are flattered to see anyone in one of your designs, whether it's on a red carpet or passing by you in the market. It's this wonderful little high every time.

So, once I've written a song, you know, I'm pretty happy with what the song is on its own terms.

The issue I had with the Lightspeed albums was that usually the main purpose with them was to fulfil really dorky musical goals, like, 'I wonder if I can do that,' and it was all very personal. It was more that once I'd finished the goal of what the song was, I was kind of done. It was like ticking boxes.

I spent many years laughing at Harry Secombe's singing until somebody told me that it wasn't a joke.

The best feeling I ever get is when I finish a song, and it exists, and it didn't exist before, and now it's there, and it makes me feel a certain way.

I can say, with a little arrogance, that I could be an actor, a cameraman, a writer, but composers are the most mysterious people.