The latest entry in Daft Punk’s “Collaborators” video series features a touching interview with legendary songwriter Paul Williams (David Bowie, the Carpenters, the Muppets). In the eight-minute clip, the former ASCAP president discusses his own rich history and how it ties into his contribution to Random Access Memories song “Touch.” He discusses his role as a Satanic record producer in the 1974 cult film Phantom of the Paradise, which inspired the electro-house duo to wear robot masks in the first place. Also, he adorably calls their music “technopop whatever.”
Williams gets a little choked up talking about “the days of the drugs” and his “pathetic” years chasing the limelight (“Please sir, can I have some more fame?”), and seems truly moved to have been invited into the process on RAM. In an interview with a French magazine last month, Daft Punk explained that “Touch” was the genesis of the entire album. Past “Collaborators” segments have spawned elucidating conversations with Giorgio Moroder Panda Bear, Skateboard P, Nile Rodgers, Todd Edwards, Chilly Gonzales, Andrew the Pizza Guy (wink wink), and DJ Falcon.
