Shame
| "Shame" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Smashing Pumpkins | |
| Released | June 2, 1998 |
| Studio sessions | November 1997-March 1998 – Sunset Sound |
| Length | 6:40 |
| Songwriter(s) | Billy Corgan |
| Producer(s) | Flood, Billy Corgan |
"Shame" is a song from The Smashing Pumpkins' fourth studio album, Adore. The recording features a drum machine but it was actually recorded live.
| “ | I was feeling really sad one morning. I got up, wrote the song. We went in that day and did it in three hours. What you're hearing is what I felt that day. | ” |
| — Billy Corgan, The Soft Parade, Rolling Stone, March 1998 | ||
Background and recording[edit | edit source]
Billy Corgan wrote the entire song in roughly 20 minutes on one morning, and the final take was recorded later that day in the studio. Given by now Jimmy Chamberlin had left the band and a drum machine was instead used on the song, Corgan considers "Shame" as one of the final recordings of the "original band", referring to the time when they used a drum machine prior to Chamberlin joining. Just as they recorded in those early days, Corgan, James Iha and D'arcy Wretzky sat in a semi-circle to record the song. Corgan considers the song a "way of saying goodbye" to that version of the band.[1]
While the song came to him quickly, Corgan believes the energy he was feeling was accurately captured in the recording. The song was not written from a place of pain, as it may seem lyrically, but rather a state of contemplation following his mother's recent death, the death of Jonathan Melvoin and Chamberlin's depature, as well as the pressure following the massive success of Mellon Collie. Corgan had also just went through a divorce, followed by a rough breakup of a short-lived relationship with nearly the same dynamic he had with his ex-wife. Thus, he experienced "shame" in that he found himself humiliated to be back in the same toxic situation he tried so hard to escape before.[1] The lyric "don't let them get to you" may refer to the pressure he felt from the public to produce a quality album despite these hardships.
The song was also in part inspired by the passing of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, whom Corgan had befriended some years prior. Corgan said of the song's lyrics, "I think it was one of those things like I kind of came out of a dream I was meditating on— that sense of like, what would you say to somebody if you could speak to them 10 minutes before they take that walk? That there’s always another day? I don’t know".[2]
Videos[edit | edit source]
Lyrics[edit | edit source]
you're gonna walk on home
you're gonna walk alone
you're gonna see this through
don't let them get to you
shame
love is good and love is kind
love is drunk and love is blind
love is good and love is mine
love is drunk all the time
shame
you're gonna walk on home
you're gonna walk alone
you're gonna walk so far
you're gonna wonder who you are
shame
love is good and love is kind
love is drunk and love is blind
love is good and love is mine
love is good all the time
hello goodbye
you know you made us cry
Availability
| Title | Notes | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Adore | Main release | Studio |
| Live at the Viper Room 1.15.98 | Billy Corgan acoustic set | Live |
Tour stats
- Total plays: 110 plays (102 full, 8 tease, 3 soundcheck), 16 acoustic, 2 artists
- First performance: Billy Corgan 1998-01-15 at The Viper Room, West Hollywood, CA, US
- Last performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2024-06-21 at ZAG-Arena, Hanover, DE (tease)
- Last full performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2021-09-19 at Sea.Hear.Now Festival, Asbury Park, NJ, US
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Corgan, Billy. "The Culling (with William Patrick Corgan)". Thirty-Three (Podcast). Retrieved February 26, 2023.
- ↑ Parker, Lyndsey. De-mystified: The stories behind 6 Michael Hutchence-inspired songs. Yahoo! Entertainment. Retrieved July 6, 2024.