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The Prime Time of Your Life

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"The Prime Time of Your Life"
Single by Daft Punk
from the album Human After All
Released17 June 2006
Recorded2004
Genre
Length
  • 4:23 (album version)
  • 3:59 (video version)
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Daft Punk
Daft Punk singles chronology
"Human After All"
(2005) 		"The Prime Time of Your Life"
(2006) 		"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Alive 2007)"
(2007)
Music video
"The Prime Time of Your Life" on YouTube

"The Prime Time of Your Life"[1] is a song by French electronic music duo Daft Punk from their third studio album, Human After All. It was released as the fourth and final single from the album on 17 June 2006 by record label Virgin. The song is also Daft Punk's final single on a studio album with Virgin, and was released with a music video written and directed by Tony Gardner, with makeup effects by Alterian, Inc.[2]

Composition

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A noted characteristic of "The Prime Time of Your Life" is the incremental acceleration of tempo as the track ends. Heather Phares of AllMusic stated, "the schaffel beat [...] gradually overtakes the song, eventually speeding up and devouring it".[3] An early review described the increasing speed effect as resembling Lil Louis, and that the ending sounds akin to a washing machine.[4] The overall structure of "The Prime Time of Your Life" was described by Matthew Weiner of Stylus as being "less a song than [a] framework on which to load more vocoders and trend-jumping schaffel beats."[5]

On Daft Punk's live album Alive 2007, "The Prime Time of Your Life" is mashed up with "The Brainwasher" from Human After All, as well as "Rollin' & Scratchin'" and "Alive" from Homework.

Music video

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The music video for the song was written and directed by Tony Gardner. The makeup effects work for the video was designed and created by Alterian, Inc. Gardner's then eleven-year-old daughter Brianna plays the main character, Melody, a young girl who is struggling with anorexia.[2]

The video starts with a close-up of a swiveling skull moving its jaw, which zooms out to reveal it is a reflection in the eye of a young girl (Melody) watching television. Everyone on the television is shown as a living skeleton in different programs. Daft Punk makes a cameo appearance in the music video as silver and gold skeletons being interviewed on the news.

Melody walks over to her dresser and looks at several photographs. She sees her parents, who are also living skeletons, triggering flashbacks revealing a necklace of some importance. She then looks at a picture of herself, in which she appears overweight, playing jump-rope with some skeletons. Melody goes into the bathroom, where she is seen in the mirror with a poster of a skeletal rendition of Britney Spears (the cover image of her greatest hits album) being seen in the reflection. Melody proceeds to take off the necklace and lays it on the sink, then opens a drawer where she discovers a razor blade.

Melody begins cutting her skin open, then tearing the muscle underneath until she is reduced to a skeleton (no blood appears). She stares at herself in the mirror and gets flashbacks of her life, then falls on the floor. Melody's parents, who are not skeletons, find their daughter lying on the bathroom floor.

The camera pans out to show the photos on the dresser again, but everyone appears normal. The picture of Melody playing jump-rope is also different, and she is not overweight. The video ends with Melody on the television, as a skeleton, about to play jump-rope with two other skeletons, before the television turns off.

The music video was included with the CD and DVD version of the album Musique Vol. 1 1993–2005.

Track listings

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CD Maxi-Single[6]
No.TitleLength
1."The Prime Time of Your Life"4:23
2."The Prime Time of Your Life" (Para One Remix)3:48
3."The Brainwasher" (Erol Alkan's Horrorhouse Dub)6:01
4."Technologic" (Digitalism's RMX)5:58
Total length:20:10
12" Single[7]
No.TitleLength
1."The Prime Time of Your Life" (Para One Remix)3:48
2."The Brainwasher" (Erol Alkan's Horrorhouse Dub)6:01
Total length:9:49

References

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  1. ^ The cover image of the single displays the title "Prime Time of Your Life" despite the song being listed as "The Prime Time of Your Life" in the track listing of the album Human After All (back cover).
  2. ^ a b "Daft Punk Music Video: 'The Prime Time of Your Life'". Facebook. 20 April 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  3. ^ Phares, Heather. "Human After All – Daft Punk | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  4. ^ "[Saounds.com article]". Saounds. Archived from the original on 29 December 2004. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  5. ^ Weiner, Matthew (15 March 2005). "Daft Punk – Human After All – Review – Stylus Magazine". Stylus. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  6. ^ "Daft Punk – Prime Time Of Your Life (2006, CD)". Discogs.
  7. ^ "Daft Punk – The Prime Time Of Your Life (2006, Vinyl)". Discogs.
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