?
| "?" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Smashing Pumpkins | |
| Songwriter(s) | Billy Corgan |
"?" or "Question Mark" (also known as "It's a Song I Sing"), is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins that was written during and for the Orange Peel residency in Asheville, NC, US. It has never been performed outside the Asheville run, with exception of two shows at the subsequent Fillmore residency.
Lyrics[edit | edit source]
| “ | Just in the first week alone we are already playing 12 different songs, new and old, that we weren’t playing just a few weeks ago. So we cannot thank you all enough. From the bottom of our black hearts, thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll leave you then with a few lines that I wrote in honor of Asheville … from the song "?" | ” |
| — Billy Corgan, full-page ad in Xpress, July 2007 | ||
what is this frightened air between us?
what is the question posed?
where is this violence I sense creeping?
what is your secret code?
I want to know
why are the pipers calling towards us?
what are we meant to show?
why are you smiling daggers at me?
what do you have that's mine to hold?
it's the song I sing
it's the song I sing
I pull into town
smoke rings around the square
I tarry the ground
feathers and flame shall explode
but are we getting close?
to an answer?
to my questions?
to my small notions of Rome?
where does ? sustain you should follow?
why are we laying low?
why must the cannons reap for nothing?
where must the depths be neatly sowed?
I have to know
why are the crows, crowing boldly?
? must blink and go?
are the unknown, knowing rising?
what is the unknown to your lost soul?
i've got to know
I race into town bleeding like some kind of bitch
i'm down on my knees digging a new kind of ditch
graced with pretty words but no answers to my questions
it's a song I sing
it's a song I sing
I fall into town to let me commendeer
the last frequency from your face
a channel wish that must float up stream
? like a sweet dream
what is this blood you drink like wine for?
are you nuts for giving in?
what does the face of death you court say?
when he comes to tuck you in?
it's a song I sing
it's a song I sing
it's a song I sing
are we fighting for the spoil of endless war?
what are these sores you lick like ice cream?
you hide the ash
you earn your past
what is the blood bracing for?
it's a song I sing
it's a song I sing
I keep telling you
I keep telling you
I keep telling you I don't want this song
I keep telling you
I keep telling you
I keep telling you I don't want this song
it's a song I sing
Tour stats
- Total plays: 10 plays (10 full, 1 soundcheck)
- First performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2007-06-23 at The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC, US
- Last performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2007-08-01 at The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, US