“Halcyon Daze” Playlist

“Halcyon Daze” technically belongs to a collection of songs called SURVIVING THE JONESES, which is about addiction. The album was originally recorded in the late 90s, but when Adam Silverstein and I began writing and recording MEMOIRS OF A MANWHORE, I began to rework the old recordings, and also wrote four new songs for the collection (and removed a few songs that didn't quite fit; one or two of those wound up on MANWHORE). “Halcyon Daze” was one of the new songs, and it’s been a band favourite in our live shows.

I was thrilled to finally get Paul in the studio at Jankland to do the drums back in April of 2018. Julian added his bass sometime in the late summer or early fall (when his apartment was cool enough to hook up the studio without overheating his computer), and then Tom came by to add his guitar in early October right before moving to Nashville, giving me just enough time to mix and master before sending the song off for publication.

Working with Paul on this was crazy, because the song has so much energy that when we do it live we can usually cruise along at about 120 bpm, but Steve Jankowski suggested that we try something faster (it was somewhere in the 132 to 136 bpm range), and Paul just about killed himself trying to keep it up for five and a half minutes per take. We recorded the piano, vocal, and drum live, although I later re-recorded the piano and vocal at home for a slightly cleaner take.

Some of you may notice immediately upon listening that this song was clearly inspired by a particular Lindsey Buckingham composition, albeit originally inadvertently. But once Adam Silverstein pointed out to me what the song was I’d ripped off melodically, I played up the similarities in the piano (which essentially performs Lindsey’s guitar part), and then I went ahead and credited a percentage of the authorship to Mr. Buckingham when I registered the copyright. So, who knows... Perhaps that legendary songwriter/guitarist will hear the track and say a few things in praise of it in order to get a little bit of profit for himself.

You can listen to the Spotify playlist here, and you can check out the track listing below, and then the lyrics:

The Random Hubiak/Halcyon Daze (full length version)

Depeche Mode/Just Can't Get Enough

Peter Gabriel/No Self Control

Nine Inch Nail/Head Like a Hole

System of a Down/Sugar

MGMT/Electric Feel

Interpol/Rest My Chemistry

Fleetwood Mac/Big Love (Extended Remix)

Madonna/Ray of Light

Pet Shop Boys/It's a Sin

Robert Hazard/Escalator of Life

Frankie Goes to Hollywood/Relax

Duran Duran/Hold Back the Rain

Jamiroquai/Space Cowboy

Elvis Costello/Little Atoms

Arcade Fire/Reflekto

Bettina Joy DeGuzman/Circe, Enchanting (English Version)

Sarah McLachlan/Sweet Surrender (DJ Tiesto Mix)

MGMT/It's Working

Stevie Nicks/I Can't Wait

Genesis/Tonight Tonight Tonight

R.E.M./It's the End of the World as We Know It (& I Feel Fine)

The Hold Steady/Stuck Between Stations

Third Eye Blind/Semi-Charmed Life

The Tubes/White Punks on Dope

Stevie Nicks/Mabel Normand

Peter Gabriel/Down the Dolce Vita

Peter Gabriel/Here Comes the Flood

The Random Hubiak/Halcyon Daze (Pop Edit)

The Random Hubiak/Halcyon Daze (Rock Edit)

HALCYON DAZE LYRICS:

A plastic bag of disco dust, intoxicating ecstasy. All my demons doing dealing with the angel sleeping next to me. And the angel sang her hymnal as she balanced on a pin, and she walked the razor’s edge as she cut the new guy in.

White hot irons burning in the furnaces we fired, we could talk for hours and hours in the scene the muse inspired. It’s a wonder we could walk with all the baggage we’d acquired, but we could swim against the current and never get tired bathing in the effervescent haze of halcyon daze.

We believed when they said genius and took our liberties as whores, all the devils that demean us making sport of social mores.

White hot irons burning in the furnaces we fired, making our appearances just to be admired by the mobs of madding crowds before our memberships expired, and we could swim against the current and never feel tired bathing in the effervescent haze of halcyon daze.

All the little white rats in the laboratory maze, dopamine receptors set the circuitry ablaze, the promise of fulfillment as we chased the latest craze through the labyrinthine corridors of halcyon daze.

A plastic bag of disco dust, intoxicating ecstasy, all my demons doing dealings, well they always got the best of me.