‘Contact’ is the final song on Daft Punk’s final album, 2013’s Random Access Memories. This electronic freakout features a NASA recording by astronaut Eugene Cernan, who saw an unidentified object outside the window of his capsule during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
Cernan is known as the “last man on the Moon,” as nobody since has set foot on its surface. I suppose it’s fitting that his is the last voice you hear on Daft Punk’s swan song.
[Spoken Word: Eugene Cernan]
Hey, Bob
I’m lookin’ at what, uh, Jack was talkin’ about
And, uh, it’s definitely not a particle that’s nearby
It is a, uh, bright object
And it’s, uh, obviously rotating because it’s flashing
It’s, uh, way out in the distance
Currently rotating in a very rhythmic fashion
Because the, uh, flashes come around, uh, almost on time
As we look back at the earth, it’s, uh, up at about 11 o’clock
About, uh, well, maybe ten or twelve dianrers—diameters, uh
I don’t know whether that does you any good
But there’s somethin’ out there
Hey, Bob
I’m lookin’ at what, uh, Jack was talkin’ about
And, uh, it’s definitely not a particle that’s nearby
It is a, uh, bright object
And it’s, uh, obviously rotating because it’s flashing
It’s, uh, way out in the distance
Currently rotating in a very rhythmic fashion
Because the, uh, flashes come around, uh, almost on time
As we look back at the earth, it’s, uh, up at about 11 o’clock
About, uh, well, maybe ten or twelve dianrers—diameters, uh
I don’t know whether that does you any good
But there’s somethin’ out there
Cool way to begin a song, but I would have chopped 2-3 minutes off the ending as it’s too long and gets increasingly annoying.