At the risk of being repetitive, today’s Halloween Song is by the same Australian rock band that was featured yesterday. There’s a certain bookends effect since “Dig It Up” was from the Hoodoo Gurus’ 1984 Stoneage Romeos debut album, and “My Imaginary Friend” is from their most recent (2022) album Chariot Of The Gods. That’s a long time to be recording songs. Let alone so many clever, offbeat ones. As noted in a previous post, some of the Broken Hearted Toy Halloween choices aren’t particularly scary. Like this one, they’re just weird.
Set to a classic pop arrangement, “My Imaginary Friend” explores a problem that might have never been covered in a song before. Which is, the end of a relationship that only existed in a person’s mind. As the lyrics illustrate, there were obvious signs of trouble. “I keep going back to our last call,” vocalist-guitarist Dave Faulkner explains. “The silence was loud and clear. The poisonous atmosphere.” Apparently earlier phone calls with this nonexistent being went more smoothly.
“Now my imaginary friend won't talk to me,” Faulkner laments. “Can you imagine how that feels? To be rejected by someone who was not there?” As “My Imaginary Friend” continues, it becomes clear we’re dealing with a serious schizophrenic. “A lifelong friendship vanished in a puff of smoke. I ought to laugh but the pain is real.” The concept here almost seems like a put-down. That guy’s such a loser, even his imaginary friend broke up with him. But Faulkner’s song draws a sympathetic response. And it’s really catchy.
Hoodoo Gurus are currently touring the U.S.A.
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