It's Nice To Be Around Paul Williams

Known for timeless classics such as "We've Only Just Begun", "Rainy Days and Mondays", "Evergreen", "Just An Old Fashioned Love Song" and "Rainbow Connection", Paul Williams is responsible for what will remain part of our pop culture for many years to come. His music has been recorded by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.


Three Dog Night's versions of "Just An Old Fashioned Love Song", "Out in the Country" and "Family of Man" have sold millions of copies, worldwide. Karen Carpenter's rich vocals made "We've Only Just Begun", "Rainy Days and Mondays", "Let Me Be the One and "I Won't Last a Day Without You", a part of our lives. Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Willie Nelson, Kermit the Frog and Luther Vandross are among the hundreds of artists who've recorded Paul's songs.


In 1997, Paul went back into the recording studio and recorded his CD, "Back To Love Again", which includes remakes of some of his more classic hits such as "Rainbow Connection" and "I Won't Last A Day Without You", as well as new songs which contain the same quality, passion and depth that was heard and felt in his hits from the past. 


No one sings a song like the songwriter who wrote it, and the same holds true for Paul's music. No one captures the emotion within the songs the way he can and does time and time again. Paul is one of the most celebrated songwriters of our time having won Academy, Grammy and Golden Globe awards. His most recent accomplishments include his induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.  He is also the current President of ASCAP where he has held this position for the past six years.


Paul's reputation as a motion picture songwriter took hold in 1973, with an Academy Award nomination for "Nice to Be Around" (co-written with John Williams) from ‘Cinderella Liberty.’  1975 brought Paul's second nomination for the soundtrack from the Brian De Palma cult classic, ‘Phantom of the Paradise.’  He not only wrote the words and music and produced the album for the rock cantata, but also held the audience captive with his devious portrayal of the evil 'Swan.'


Paul went on to become the Music Supervisor for ‘A Star Is Born’ in 1976, bringing with it the challenge of working with three different composers to produce its award-winning score. Paul and Kenny Ascher won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Motion Picture Score". "Evergreen", co-written with Barbra Streisand, won the 1976 Oscar for "Best Song of the Year". 


In 1980, Paul was once again nominated by the Academy for the score from the box office smash hit, ‘The Muppet Movie,’ for "Best Original Score" as well as the song "Rainbow Connection" being nominated for "Best Song". ‘The Muppet Movie’ soundtrack went on to win two Grammy Awards and became the biggest soundtrack album of the year, exceeding sales of one million units. Paul reunited with Henson Productions in 1992 for the Disney feature film, ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol.’  He wrote and produced the songs for the soundtrack which brought with it yet another Grammy Award nomination for "Best Musical Album for Children".


Paul's other film credits include the songs and score for ‘Bugsy Malone’ in 1976, which starred Jodie Foster and Scott Baio. ‘Bugsy Malone’ continues to be a favorite of children's playhouses and theaters, worldwide. 


Paul Williams began his career as an actor in 1965 with his portrayal of a 12-year-old prodigy in ‘The Loved One,’ playing opposite Jonathan Winters. He is probably best-known for his roles as ‘Little Enos’ in the ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ movies, as well as the orangutan "Virgil" in Battle for the Planet of the Apes in 1973.


Having obtained his certification from UCLA as a drug and alcohol counselor, Paul is very active on the speaker's circuit across the country. Speaking from his personal experiences with his own addiction and the knowledge that he gained through his education and his experience as a counselor, Paul continues to touch the lives and hearts of many people whose lives have been affected by drug abuse and/or alcoholism. He is actively involved with the Musician's Assistance Program and is on the Board of Directors for Community High School, a sober high school in Nashville, Tennessee which offers the teens assistance with their recovery as well as the education that they both strive for and deserve.


Paul has appeared on ‘Prime Time Country,’  ‘The Geraldo Rivera Show’ and ‘Primetime’  talking about the devastating effects of drugs and alcohol and the increased use of them amongst teens and pre-teens. He has been presented with the Global Arts Award from the Friendly House for his efforts on their behalf, the Spirit of Youth Award from the Pacific Boys Lodge for his efforts and contributions and the "Celebration of Hope" award given to him by Hazelden for his overall contribution in the recovery field. Recovery is not simply a field that Paul is active in, it is one that he is passionate about...this is just one way in which Paul gives of himself to others.





AM:  Paul,  I love your newest song, 'Touch’ with Daft Punk!  How did you get involved with them?


PW:  About three years ago I got a call from two amazing French gentlemen who are the group 'Daft Punk.’  They wanted to work together.  It was a great treat for me.  I had seen them on the Grammys and I was amazed.  They work anonymously as robots.


AM:  They’ve been around a while now.


PW:  Twenty years ago they were the beginning of the electronic dance movement.  They got huge and successful so they decided they wanted to do something more emotional, so they got in touch with me, Gorgio Moroder, Niles Rogers and Pharrell Williams.  We made the album, ‘Random Access Memories’ and it’s like time travel.  It’s a great album and not unlike re-visiting the Seventies, the Eighties and the Nineties and also a little bit of 2040 in it.  I wrote the lyrics to two songs, ‘Touch’ and ‘Beyond’ and I sing ‘Touch’ which is almost a nine minute song.


AM:  Will you be singing ‘Touch’ in concert?


PW:  It’s something that eventually I will do in concert but it feels so specifically theirs right now.  The great thing about working with them is they didn’t bring me in for wallpaper.  They brought all of us in at the very beginning of the project and asked us to help decide what type of journey this is going to be.


AM:  I saw the recent documentary about you, ‘Paul Williams: Still Alive.’  I loved watching it, but I wonder how it was for you?  It went by so fast like it was five minutes for me.


PW:  Nice, it went by in four years for me! (laughter)  As you know I am a recovering alcoholic who is twenty-three years sober now.  There is a great collection of archival footage, some of it I had no recollection of.  I did ‘The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson’ forty-eight times.  I remember six of them.  It’s a warts and all documentary.  I had editing rights at the end.


AM:  I did assume you had editing rights and I admire that you chose to show the uncomfortable-ness.


PW:  There’s footage in the movie that’s really hard for me to watch.  There’s footage of me on ‘Merv Griffin’ where I am so loaded on cocaine and I’m the most vapid, arrogant, shallow, little prick.  I look at that now and what is really frightening for me is that I had no idea that’s who I had become.



AM:  That can’t be easy to watch.


PW:  What’s really interesting for me is to go alright,  I’m joking about marital infidelity on the road, and I’m thinking my daughter is going to see this.  Do I really want this in there?  Then I thought if it’s going to be a film about recovery and be a film that proves there is hope for the hopeless, because I was, we need to leave the warts in.  It took an eighth of an ounce of cocaine and a bottle of vodka to get me through the day for ten years.  You know you’re an alcoholic when you misplace a decade.


AM:  Those must have been very tough days.


PW: I think what’s fascinating is that the director, Steve Kessler came into the project as a big fan but I think he equated fame with happiness.  He was saying I was so incredibly famous then I disappeared for ten years and got sober.  Then instead of scraping my way back to being part of the game again, I wanted to go off and work in recovery.  He didn’t understand how I could be really happy.


AM:  It seems like an honest look into your life at the time.


PW:   Some of the film wasn’t so honest but it worked.  The scene where the little boy is interviewing me was when I was doing sold out shows with Melissa Manchester and this lady sent a note backstage and asked if I would let her son interview me since he wanted to get into television and I said, sure.


AM: You’re just a really kind guy Paul.


PW:  Just a really kind guy! (laughter)  That was his perspective and I respected that.  You get to see his journey in the film as well.


AM:  Another aspect of your life now is that you’re President of ASCAP.  What does that involve for you?


PW:  ASCAP is a performing rights organization.  Whenever music is performed on stage, on television, on radio or the Internet, there are two copyrights that are involved.  The first one is the copyright for the song.  That one is owned by the writer and the publisher of the song.  There’s a performance royalty for that.  ASCAP, for almost a hundred years, has gone into every new media and established a right and a rate and collect money to send to the writer.  We’re a membership organization, a not for profit organization with over 470,00 members at this point.  We send them money based on their songs being performed.




AM:  Does this take up all your time now?


PW: It takes a lot of time but I’m loving it.


AM:  How long will you be President?


PW:  I was re-elected for the third time this past April.  It’s a two year term.  I love it.  I think it’s a chance to be of service.  It’s a really interesting time because of music on the Internet.  Streaming is becoming the way everybody is getting their music now.  We need to stay in the battle and make sure there is fair payment for fair play.  


AM:  Are you touring these days?


PW:  No, I’m not.  I did just play for two weeks at the Carlyle in New York and I’m playing Las Vegas in November.  I’m also doing a few symphony dates.  I’m not doing a great deal of touring because I am working on a book.  Tracey Jackson, a wonderful screenwriter and a dear friend, and I are writing a book which is being published by Penguin in October 2014.  It’s titled ‘Gratitude and Trust: Recovery Is Not Just For Addicts.’  It’s for people who have the life threatening disease of addiction and life limiting habits.  We’ve written a book that will give people our take on things they can do.


AM:  Can you give me an example of what’s in the book?


PW:  They are simple affirmations like 'Something needs to change and it’s probably me.' Those are the kind of things we are writing about.  My story is pretty funny.  I was between Jonathan Winters and Robert Mitchum, so for a while I was actually the normal one on the block.  It’s a great opportunity to share with the world something I’ve been given freely.