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"Touch" is a song written and recorded by French electronic music duo Daft Punk and American singer-songwriter Paul Williams. "Touch" serves as the seventh track from the group's fourth studio album, Random Access Memories (2013). The song was featured in the American thriller TV series, Mr. Robot, and Daft Punk's farewell video, "Epilogue".

Composition

While working with Chris Caswell, Daft Punk mentioned they had been heavily influenced by the 1974 film Phantom of the Paradise, starring Paul Williams. Caswell offered to arrange a meeting between Williams and the duo, leading to Williams singing on the track and writing lyric treatments for a few tracks on the album. Daft Punk had an initial melody for the song, but, when Caswell arranged a counter-melody for string accompaniment, Daft Punk preferred Caswell's. This became the melody Williams sang to and led to Caswell receiving a songwriter credit for the track.

"Touch" is a multi-part ballad in common time. The track is performed in the key of F-sharp minor, with a tempo of 91 BPM except for a faster middle section at 116 BPM. Music journalists described the song musically as disco, progressive rock, and jazz fusion. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork described the track as "over-the-top" and ambitious, with a "Cluster-fied spacey intro, some showtune balladry, a 4/4 disco section complete with swing music trills, and a sky-scraping choir, all in service of a basic lyrical idea: love is the answer and you've got to hold on." Nick Decosemo of Mixmag compared "Touch" to rock ballads heard in musicals similar to Jesus Christ Superstar, additionally calling it "part Brian Eno ambient experimentation, part musical theatre, part gospel epic".

"2021 Epilogue" version

In February 2021, a version of "Touch" was featured in Daft Punk's eight-minute video announcing the group's disbandment, entitled "Epilogue". The video shows a part of the ending from the group's 2006 film Electroma in which one member of Daft Punk explodes while the other walks away, after which a rendition of "Touch" is played, featuring an orchestra and a choir. The video has amassed over 29 million views on YouTube. The version from the epilogue video was released as part of the 10th anniversary edition reissue of the album.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Random Access Memories liner notes.

• Daft Punk - production, vocals, modular synthesizer
• Paul Williams - vocals
• Paul Jackson, Jr - guitar
• Greg Leisz - lap steel guitar
• Chris Caswell - keyboards
• Thomas Bloch - ondes martenot
• James Genus - bass
• Omar Hakim - drums

References

1. "Mr. Robot Soundtrack". Tune Find. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
2. ^ Daft Punk - Epilogue, retrieved 2023-04-22
3. "Chris Caswell on Playing the GRAMMYs with Daft Punk and The Beatles — SonicScoop". sonicscoop.com. 2014-02-13. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
4. Thomas, Bangalter; Guy-Manuel, de Homem-Christo; Paul, Williams; Chris, Caswell; Punk, Daft (2013-05-31). "Touch". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
5. ^ Romano, Tricia (21 May 2013). "Daft Punk Goes Back to the Future With 'Random Access Memories'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
6. ^ Reynolds, Simon (15 May 2013). "Daft Punk Gets Human With a New Album". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
7. "BPM and key for Touch (feat. Paul Williams) by Daft Punk | Tempo for Touch (feat. Paul Williams) | SongBPM | songbpm.com". SongBPM. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
8. "Key & BPM for Touch (feat. Paul Williams)". Tunebat.
9. Hermes, Will (2013-05-13). "Random Access Memories". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
10. "Daft Punk: Random Access Memories". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
11. "Mixmag | NICK DECOSEMO: 'RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES' REVIEW". 2013-09-27. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
12. Daly, Rhian (2021-02-22). "Music world reacts to Daft Punk's split: "An inspiration to all"". NME. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
13. "Daft Punk Announce New Random Access Memories Reissue With Unreleased Music". Pitchfork. 2023-02-22. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
14. "Random Access Memories". albumlinernotes. Retrieved 2023-04-22.

• Songs written by Thomas Bangalter
• Songs written by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
• Daft Punk songs
• 2013 songs
• Songs written by Paul Williams (songwriter)