Michael Stipe and Andrew Watt teamed up for a performance of their recent song, “I Played the Fool” on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The rousing track is the main title theme from HBO series Rooster, which stars Steve Carell, and appears on the Season 1 soundtrack for the comedy show.
Watt, who recently produced Paul McCartney‘s new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, took on guitar duties while Stipe was center stage on vocals. “Laugh at me/ I’m trying, trying,” Stripe sang.
“Falling sometimes/ Sometimes flying.”
“I Played the Fool” was written specifically for Rooster, created by Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses. The song marks Stipe’s first in three years and came about thanks to Watt.
“Our plan had always been to use music from our own time in college in the ’80s,” Tarses explained in a statement when the song was released. “No band was more important to me then than R.E.M. When Andrew Watt told us he thought he could get Michael Stipe to write and record a new song for us, we said, ‘Cool, good luck with that.’ We knew this would never happen. But a few months later, Andrew sent an early demo of ‘I Played the Fool.’ And when I listened to it on my phone, I cried. I really did. Saying we are excited to have this great song and this iconic voice on our main title is a huge understatement.”
The recorded version features piano and guitar from ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and drums from Blink-182’s Travis Barker.
Watt noted of the collaboration, “Michael Stipe is a hero of mine. A chance to write a song with him was that of a dream. He is one of the true great songwriters of this lifetime and he did what only he could do on this song. He sets Rooster off to the moon by making you laugh and cry at the same time with the best clapping TV theme song since Friends.”
Rooster debuted on HBO in March. Along with Carell, it stars Charly Clive, Danielle Deadwyler, Phil Dunster, John C. McGinley, and Lauren Tsai.
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