The Hello everyone and thanks for downloading streaming or otherwise tuning in to this episode of the

soda jerker on songwriting podcast. We bring you this episode from the

medical wing of soda jerker HQ, where we're currently quarantined having suffered flu-like symptoms all week long.

Yeah we're both shuffling round with IV drips and wearing those hospital gowns that don't quite

close at the back.

What a sight. But fear not, because this episode is one that we've dreamed of recording since we started just over a year ago,

and we feel quite lucky to be able to say that fairly often these days.

Our guest for this episode is the spectacularly talented and beloved songwriter Paul Williams.

It's another holy grail ticked off our list for sure.

Many of you will already know his resume.

Paul Williams is one of America's most accomplished songwriters and entertainers.

An Oscar Grammy and Golden Globe winning Hall of Fame songwriter

who penned hits like We've Only Just Begone

in Rainier Days and Mondays for the Carpenters and the music for films like Bugsy Malone, Star is Born,

Phantom of the Paradise and The Muppet Movie. That's right, the author of The Rainbow Connection is going to speak with us.

Whoa.

Paul Hamilton Williams Jr. was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1940.

Paul describes himself as an actor that discovered songwriting

relatively late in life. He had a rock group early on called The Holy Mackerel

but it was his writing partnership with Roger Nichols and songs like

Out on the Country for Three Dog Night.

Not to mention the songs they wrote for the Carpenters, including I Won't Last the Day

...