My songs are somewhere between story and situation. There's also character and mood. I'm an intuitive writer, both with instrumentals and songs with words.
I think there's something really thrilling to having to get people laughing about something, and then, when you have them in that comfort space, you can drop the weight into the texture of the story.
Success depends on three things: who says it, what he says, how he says it; and of these three things, what he says is the least important.
Viscount Morley of Blackburn
Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.
It's really the tone that people use to convey things sometimes that can either become a compliment or an insult. It's not always what you are saying, it's about how you say it.
If we do away with semi-colons, parentheses and much else, we will lose all music, nuance and subtlety in communication - and end up shouting at one another in block capitals.
I have wit in my work and a sense of humor, but I do not use irony in any way.
If you come across as boring or monotone, you're going to lose your audience.
The guitar can go at a scream. It can yell at you.
Sarcasm doesn't translate in print at all.
Everything we say has metamessages indicating how our words are to be interpreted: Is this a serious statement or a joke? Does it show annoyance or goodwill? Most of the time, metamessages are communicated and interpreted without notice because, as far as anyone can tell, the speaker and the hearer agree on their meaning.
You don't need the right facts if you have the right inflection.
Almost anything can be funny if said the right way - but it has to be said the right way.
I stopped doing interviews for a long time because the words were mine, but they were in the wrong order. Context is a very important thing - a lot of the things I say aren't serious, and so to remove the laughter does me no favours.
Ninety percent of the friction of daily life is caused by tone of voice.
How I say it has as much of an impact on what people think of me as what I say.
I don't mind you thinking I'm stupid, but don't talk to me like I'm stupid.
You would have to be born with a gene that doesn't allow you to recognize sarcasm if you take anything I say seriously.
I've said I want the meanest, toughest SOB I can find to protect America. And so that's why Trump's tone doesn't bother me.
Film noir is not a genre. It is not defined, as are the western and gangster genres, by conventions of setting and conflict, but rather by the more subtle qualities of tone and mood. It is a film 'noir', as opposed to the possible variants of film gray or film off-white.
Be careful that what you write does not offend anybody or cause problems within the company. The safest approach is to remove all useful information.
Tech Jacket shares the same tone as Invincible, but the subject matter is very different. Where Invincible is about perfection, Tech Jacket is about flaws.
It is the man determines what is said, not the words.
Whenever we would prepare the mind by a forcible appeal, an opening quotation is a symphony preluding on the chords whose tones we are about to harmonize.
I've noticed that when people are joking they're usually dead serious, and when they're serious, they're usually pretty funny.
