Dance music pioneer Giorgio Moroder created an iconic moment when he performed his Daft Punk collab “Giorgio by Moroder,” which fans thought they’d never hear played live. Seeing the Father of Disco give his spoken word intro that spawned a thousand memes is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Moroder is a living legend, and it just feels real good to hear him flex his storytelling chops about the heyday of disco.
Aside from Moroder’s charm, the performance stands out due to the funky groove laid out by his band, who expertly recreate Daft Punk’s brilliant musical arrangement on the track with live instruments, which is quite a feat. The band is complemented by a full orchestra, which creates a satisfyingly epic arrangement on the Euro disco classic. The Music Man readers will def want to tune in at 2:20, where Moroder drops his legendary viral self-introduction.
Although “Giorgio by Moroder” is much loved by Daft Punk fans, the duo never played it live. Moroder, who only very rarely performs on stage, debuted the song during a one-off set in 2013, and again featured it on his 2019 concert tour. Fans loved seeing Moroder perform the number, and added comments such as “I honestly never thought this could be played live” and “I love that he’s not just reading a script, but actually telling the story. And the band is extending the groove to give him time to finish.”
Moroder made the most of his rare live performances in recent years, with his 2019 set at Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands going viral and racking up 3.4 million views. He opened his set with the dance groover “I Feel Love.” He began the song with a cheeky opening word segment that brought to mind his famous lines in “Giorgio by Moroder.” Moroder talked about the creation of “I Feel Love” during his studio monologue in “Giorgio by Moroder,” which is perhaps why he made a connection between the songs live.
Daft Punk released “Giorgio by Moroder” on May 17, 2013, as the third track on their fourth studio album Random Access Memories. The song features an opening monologue by Moroder, who details his life and times during the development of disco and electronic music. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that Moroder was quite mystified at first when Daft Punk began the “Giorgio by Moroder” session. Moroder had thought that perhaps he would get involved with writing the music of the song, but instead found that “[Daft Punk] did not let me get involved at all [with the musical arrangement]. Thomas asked me if I wanted to tell the story of my life. Then they would know what to do with it.” Moroder added he had no idea how Daft Punk planned to use his monologue until he heard the finished song and had at one point guessed that the duo “might cut it up into a rap.”