Touch (feat. Paul Williams)

I believe this is a song about Daft as androids reflecting on the human experience. It starts out in such a robotic voice then goes into Paul Williams describing how to touch and be touched is one of the most humanizing sensations you can experience, it is what makes us feel alive, but there is still something missing. I feel like "I need something more" is related directly to "If love is the answer then hold on". It's teasing him He needs more than touch to feel human though he needs love, and without love he will never truly be human.

This song speaks to me. I take medication for depression, and severe anxiety. The effects of these medications are like a gentle touch on my life. They last a short time, allowing me to function happily and normally, like a human should. Such a slight tough, leaving me wanting more, wanting to feel this way forever. The robotic and fragmented voice reminds me of my sober self, waiting for the next time I can be touched by the grace of my medication. When the tempo picks up, I have swallowed these pills and I am anticipating the touch. The climax, where the piano riff and trumpet can be heard, represents the touch, the effects of the medication. I'm happy, social, confident, fearless, human. Then, unfortunately, I am doomed to come down. Time feels slowed, much like the tempo of the song after the climax.

Wow this song is really amazing, I made an account here just to show my thoughts on this, though I'll probably use it in the future.

I think this song is about a long-forgotten machine that has a dead person's consciousness on it(technological singularity). A human approaches the machine...

"A tourist in a dream A visitor it seems A half-forgotten song"

"Where do I belong?"

"How do I begin?"

...and asks it about its human life. In my own mind I imagined a human born in, say, 2100 asking a machine consciousness of someone who lived long before, say someone born in 2013, about life back then. Perhaps the humans from 2100 are devoid of the magic of touch, touching another person isn't a common occurrence. They communicate through screens.(Right now I'm thinking of the humans from Wall-E ;) )

Anyway the human keeps asking questions about "back then", like a young person today might ask their grandmother about the 30's.(Like me) The machine also wants to learn about life currently, and asks his own question, like playing a game with the human. The machine wants its own answers to questions for the human, and in exchange the machine will share some of its wisdom with the human.

"Tell me what you see I need something more"

The machine, trying to answer the human's questions as best as it can, is suddenly lost in his own long forgotten memories of when it was human. Listen to the music at 3:23 - 4:15. This is just incredible right here, I can PERFECTLY imagine full-on movie scene playing with this music, as a young suitor dances with women at a dance, wooing them with his charm. Then, brought back to reality(at 4:15, the music gets slow and kind-of depressing) with the human's question, "What is the answer[to life]?"(because the machine is so old and wise) The machine thinks for a bit, and then answers:

"If love is the answer you're home"

The human is done with its questions but the machine keeps talking, because its, more than anything, lonely. So very, very lonely in its prison cell of transistors and chips.

"Hold on" [and a bunch more hold on's in the background]

At the end of the song, the machine is in emotional shambles.

Touch, sweet touch You've given me too much to feel Sweet touch You've almost convinced me I'm real I need something more I need something more"

Its can't process all the emotion that the machine is feeling, and the machine breaks down into tears, silently, while the humans leaves.

As I said, this song is just brilliant. It's ironic because the song is called Touch, it's listened to with your hearing, but makes you see such a perfectly clear picture in your mind. I think this song can be extended from the story it tells, of the human and the android/machine/thing, to real people in real life who struggle with depression and loneliness. They feel devoid of touch, both literal touching of another person and how they're alone in the world; their soul touches and is touched by no one.

"Touch" is a song based on the touchscreen and capacitive sensing buttons/touch switch in the point of view of the technology itself. The tech somehow knows that touch is one of the blessed gifts to humans and animals. It somehow knows that a painters touch can bring paintings/pictures to live and knows a picture says 1000 words. Since it itself works with touch, it asked itself on whether it itself is similar to what it knows about pictures. Refer: "Pictures came with touch A painter in my mind Tell me what you see A tourist in a dream A visitor it seems A half-forgotten song Where do I belong? Tell me what you see"

It also describes kiss as something nice and wonderful. Refer:

"Kiss, suddenly alive Happiness arrive Hunger like a storm"

It then describes the way it uses touch via touchscreen and capacitive buttons. Refer:

"A room within a room A door behind a door Touch, where do you lead?"

It then refers to it's home button on touchscreen. It somehow knows that most of the humans' fond memories and family love are experienced at home and tells us that IF the love is the answer to the questions it asked earlier regarding the way it "feels" the touch, then, hold on to it's home button. Refer:

"Home.. Hold on If love is the answer you're home"

{{Why hold on to it's home button you may asked? Well, maybe to let the human (user) take a break from hours spending on apps and social networks; go back to the basics and enjoy life by either calling someone and have a nice chat; or if not calling, do good outdoor activities/ chat with family members bla bla bla. Up to you.}}

But, it somehow knows that the touch it "feels" and the touch we feel are different. It accepts the bitter truth and yearns to "feel" more on touch. Refer:

"Touch, sweet touch You've given me too much to feel Sweet touch You've almost convinced me I'm real I need something more I need something.. more"

{{More on touch in the sense of to feel the roughness, smoothness, real pinch and so on.. even kiss.}}

I think it talks about physical pleasure. It al just begins with a touch, and how amazing it is, then "kiss, suddenly alive" he just gets his first kiss and feels amazing, but then he wants even more "hunger like a storm". So he keeps opening doors and doing "better" things but it never ends "a room within a room..." and always needs new experiencies to feel alive.

Then appears a "girl" voice saying "hold on, if love is te anwer you're home" (such a f***ing amazing verse) and that's what he needs, someone to love him and make him feel alive because he just got physical pleasure but what he needed was some kind of sentimental conexion with someone (love).

Such an amazing song from an amazing album. (sorry for my english u.u)

no offense to anyone who bit off on the narrator here being an alien/robot/whatever due to the sci-fi connotations associated with album and indeed daft punk in general, but i think lyrically this is a very humanistic track. the narrator is a human being who realizes the value of another human's loving touch but is unable to express what he/she really wants. he/she is trying to find what others describe as "love" but is unable to do so due to incongruities between himself/herself and other people, although is hopeful to eventually experience the feeling of "love."

who knows though. this, like most songs (especially from this album) are wide open to interpretation, which is what makes them great. easily one of, if not the best, track from the album (i would say instant crush would be my only other pick for a better track).

In the beginning, the song starts with light melodies and then warps into a highly processed vocal track, saying "touch, I remember touch." As if a robot or android is waking from a dream and is presented with that memory of touch. It is the closest thing it has to being a human and it can't have that "something more." When he says, "I need something more," I just think he is needing the capacity to feel love and give it. The song is so emotional because he knows that is the missing key, and he can't have it. The tension rises in the music a few times to express the anger and missing feelings. He says that it almost convinced him that he's real. Some parts of the song show that he is happy because the music is happy, but then it's like he is hit with the fact that he is missing love. The song ends with a diminished or augmented chord to show that there will never be a resolution.

My interpretation of this song is of an alien that was once on earth and made contact with humans and was taught the human emotions and senses . He finally returned home and was to come again. When he finally arrives he makes contact again with new humans and begins to speak with them and describes remembering touch followed by other emotions that he was taught when he originally arrived upon earth. I hope you enjoy my weird mined . Thank you and GOD bless.

This music makes me think of a touch screen device questioning itself about its existence. The touch is basically the greatest way a human can interact with it.

"Pictures came with touch" //the response of a touchscreen mobile device when you touch to open a picture, for exemple

"I need something more, I need something more..." //it is some kind of life chained to the device, and it is limited. it's the robot wanting to evolve haha

My interpretation is incomplete, there are more to analyse and abstract some meaning in this way.

I, too, have created an account to share my comments on this song!

First of all, what a masterpiece this is! I did not expect this was Daft Punk, not to mention Paul Williams (My first time hearing anything from him).

Definitely agree with Eswaran that this is an android or a tech singularity. The build-up near the end after "If love is the answer you hold", in my guess, is a sort of overload of artificial emotion. Maybe the being can only grasp a moment of it through "touch", but that's it. Once he's exhausted his attempts, the song goes quite. Because he realizes he will never truly be human.

Either way, this song is truly amazing.