Bad Day is the second song written for the forthcoming Stop/Time collection, and probably the piece I've spent the most time on since Flight Deck.
The track originated from several fronts and inspiration points. Actually, the whole concept of the track originally stemmed from a point of anti-inspiration: my job. Basically, I hate my day job, and I have for some time. So the lyrics basically narrate what's going through my head during a typical weekday when I have to go to my job.
When I began this song, the lyrics were written at the same time as the music, which is a first for me; usually the words come after, because I find them so hard to write. For Bad Day, the lyric writing was almost effortless, because it was something I had been dealing with for a long time. The style of the vocals, either by accident or subconscious intent, ended up featuring spoken vocals, a concept I admired from the Pet Shop Boys' Left To My Own Devices, and also from Fluke's various work.
The other concept behind this song, besides the job-hating, was that of being trapped in a place when you would much rather be somewhere else. In this case, I was feeling rather distant from my daughter, living several provinces away, and I was wondering if she felt the same thing I did. Being only five, memories can be fleeting and I often wonder how much of it is retained. For myself, I felt that the whole experience of visiting her was kind of a dream, and that's where the lyrics for this section came in.
I wanted a female voice to accompany mine for the singing bits. I was hoping that a female voice would play the part of my daughter in the song. Her and I would both be singing the same line, but in harmony. So I enlisted the help of Catherine Goodrick, the wife of a good friend on mine, and we recorded a couple of brief sessions. I loved the sound of it, the two parts sounded great together, and it was just what I wanted.
Shortly after beginning work on this, I realized that this was going to be a trilogy -- a three part opener to the album, and that the whole thing was going to be in excess of twenty minutes. I didn't know why I thought that, but it just seemed the thing to do. So once I was happy with Bad Day, I went to word on the other successive parts, which ended up being Dad's Day and Hard Candy, with the entire suite being entitled The Unforetold.
A different production of the track appears on the single bundle, called New Version, which features a few new parts, a different piano arrangement and elements of Dad's Day, which otherwise do not appear in the album version. A shorter 'single' edit of this also was made.
Further permutations include the Earl Three Earban Remix, and the Overloaded version that appears at part three of the counterpart to The Unforetold, entitled The Nine-Oh-Five. Finally, an alternate Earl Three remix called Earl Three's Tweak was also made.
VERSIONS
- Bad Day (instrumental)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine.
An original voxless version which was released in 2008 in the Stop/Time promo.
- Bad Day (First Version)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine. additional vocals by Catherine Goodrick.
The first version of the track cut with vocals. withdrawn. - Bad Day (Second Version)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine.
additional vocals by Catherine Goodrick
The full length album version, with recut vocals. The first part of The Unforetold trilogy, on the album of the same name.
- Bad Day (New Version)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine.
additional vocals by Catherine Goodrick
An alternate production of the track, shortened slightly in the arrangement.
- Bad Day (Short Edit)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine.
additional vocals by Catherine Goodrick
Shortened further still from the New Version.
- Bad Day (Earl 3's Earban Mix)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine.
Remix for the single, crunchy hip/hop style.
- Bad Day (Tweak Jam)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine.
Originally intended to be a hidden bonus track, this is a live remix where the bassline and some percussive elements from the album version are fed through various distortion, compressiona and filter units to create a louder more aggressive feel. unreleased. - Bad Day (Overloaded)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine.
Using the Tweak Jam as a bed, a fuller remix using more elements from the album version to flesh out the mix. Part three of The Nine-Oh-Five trilogy.
- Bad Day (Earl Three's Tweak)
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine.
Another live remix, percussive elements are fed through a sample retriggering plugin and play over the vocals. unreleased.
WATCH BAD DAY BEING PERFORMED LIVE AND UNREHEARSED
LYRICS
eyes drift open
the television babysitter
cigarette smoking halo
around my sorry lips
someone take that mirrow down
there's blood on my toothbrush
the bust driver meets your half dead stare
polyester airholes all around
greasy window glass
where someone's rest his head in shame
you think to much
horses graze by the roadside
they don't know when their time will come
rising up the hillside at one foot per second
watch and wait as the seconds wander by
slow motion girders
a concrete line
cutting its way through the green
gray clouds and shadow
a psycholigical echo
just get to the safehouse on time
you are near me
you are far away
and lumbar support
new age screensaver
and a corkboard shrine
peanuts in a plastic jar
how did you get to where you are
the photographs stare at you
while the fax machine whines
I let my fingers do the talking
solving the problems of the work
i pick up the phone
but there's always no one there
a DTMF nightmare
somewhere in my mind
an oasis of calm
among the mental wreckage
and cross-circuited imagery
an island of serenity
with all of the amenities
of a life I think other people have
but it's late now, too late
the deadline's past
and you've begun to realize
that you've forsaken everything you once held dear
your prison in this chair inside this room
you can't escape the status quo
the pictures mock you
but you can't turn away
can't remember
are you just a dream?
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