Ithax

"Ithax"
Song by Billy Corgan
Lyrics Tabs
Written	2022
Songwriter(s)	Billy Corgan

"Ithax" (also known as "Photograph") is Billy Corgan song that debuted publicly at the Together and Together Again charity event on July 27, 2022, which benefits victims of the July 4 Highland Park parade shooting. The song had also been performed one day earlier to a private show for first-responders and emergency personnel.

Background

Some time after the Highland Park parade shooting, Corgan was working on a new Smashing Pumpkins song with some workable riffs and melodies, followed by nap. After awakening, and he said "the song was spinning in my head.

In his own words, Corgan explains the song:

“ So in the opening scene, I'm explaining to somebody that I found a photograph of us standing in the very spot where this horrible thing happened. It's as simple as that. Something so simple like a photo taken on a beautiful day, right over here [points] by the ice cream shop where we go sometimes for fancy sorbet. Suddenly when we look at the photograph it has meaning, "Oh my god, we were in that spot!" That's what something like this does, it turns everything upside down. Good things become bad, bad things become good. Simple things become complicated. Complicated things suddenly have no meaning. Certainly no resonance. And then it shifts into a dream. Sometimes I have these dreams where it's as real as it is I'm sitting here with you. I don't know why I have these dreams, but I feel like I'm on another planet having these dreams with unfamiliar people. So it shifts to the dream. Suddenly, right over there at the square [points outside], hearkening back to our origins here in Highland Park. I see a young woman dancing by herself. She's obviously dancing in my dream for those we've lost. My reaction is to try to explain to her, or ask her for something, which is interesting because she's mourning the dead and the wounded. Why do I need something from her? I think we all have that reaction sometimes, right? I wonder what this has done to all of us. You could say it's selfish, you could say it's focused. And that's what the rest of the song is about. ” — Billy Corgan, banter from Together and Together Again tribute show

It's unclear from the event whether the new song is ultimately intended for Smashing Pumpkins, or if it's a new Corgan project.

Lyrics

Here's a photograph I found
See, here's a photograph
the moment has passed
before it's here
yeah here's a photograph

sing Sicily
the glow
the glean
[unintelligible] me
here and there and without homes
the whisper to mind, of the undertone
we fair, we fair
if no answers, here nor there, where they once stood
whisper to mine, of a cloudless sky,
shared, shroud,

in every photograph
in every photograph

yeah here's another time, I found
yes, here's another time
life's tender when it's soft
and for us, it's enough
we're tired about the times

sing Sicily
the glow
the glean
[unintelligible] me
here and there and without homes
the whisper to mind, of the undertone
you rose, you rose,
if no answers, where they should, or where they fell
whisper to mine, beneath a cloudless sky,
warm, home,

in every photograph
in every photograph

Tour stats

• Total plays: 2 plays
• First performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2022-07-26 at Madame ZuZu's, Highland Park, IL, US
• Last performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2022-07-27 at Madame ZuZu's, Highland Park, IL, US