Thirty-Three

For the podcast, see Thirty-Three (podcast).

"Thirty-Three"
Single by The Smashing Pumpkins
Album Lyrics Tabs Video Spotify
B-side	"The Last Song" "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" "Transformer" "The Bells" "My Blue Heaven"
Released	November 12, 1996
Format	CD
Studio sessions	Fall-Winter 1994 – Sadlands March-August 1995 – Pumpkinland and Chicago Recording Company July 25, 1995 – Chicago Recording Company August 1995 – The Village Recorder
Genre	Alternative rock, psychedelic rock[1] country[2]
Length	4:10
Label	Virgin
Songwriter(s)	Billy Corgan
Producer(s)	Flood, Alan Moulder, Billy Corgan
The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology
"Muzzle" (1996) "Thirty-Three" (1996) "Eye" (1996)
Alternative cover
UK CD single 2
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Tonight, Tonight Jellybelly Zero Here Is No Why Bullet with Butterfly Wings To Forgive Fuck You Love Cupid de Locke Galapogos Muzzle Porcelina of the Vast Oceans Take Me Down Where Boys Fear to Tread Bodies Thirty-Three In the Arms of Sleep 1979 Tales of a Scorched Earth Thru the Eyes of Ruby Stumbleine X.Y.U. We Only Come Out at Night Beautiful Lily (My One and Only) By Starlight Farewell and Goodnight

"Thirty-Three" is the final single from The Smashing Pumpkins's third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was also the first single released after the firing of Jimmy Chamberlin and death of Jonathan Melvoin. The song peaked at 39 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number seven in New Zealand and the top 30 on multiple charts in Canada and the United Kingdom. In Canada it coincidentally finished at number 33 on the RPM Alternative 30 year-end chart for 1997.

Background

About the song, Billy Corgan said it was "A simple song in a country tuning" and was the first song written by Corgan after the Rock Invasion tour. The guitars recorded in the song are tuned to EGBGBE half a step down. The drum machine track is exactly the same track Corgan recorded when he laid down the demo version of the song, because he "couldn't remember how to recreate it". Corgan also explained that the "stringly sounds" in the recording are a vocoder with five slide guitars, each tuned to a single note to create the chords.

Corgan joked on an August 24, 2000 taping of VH1 Storytellers that he planned on making "Thirty-Three", "Sixty-Six", and "Ninety-Nine", but only finished "Thirty-Three". On a more serious note, he explained that when he was 27 years old, a tarot card reading told him his life would completely change at the age of 33.

Despite being one of the band's highest-charting songs internationally, as well as their final top-40 hit in the US, "Thirty-Three" was excluded from the band's 2001 greatest hits collection. It was included, however, for the Greatest Hits Video Collection.

The cover artwork is a rendering of Grigori Rasputin's face, with Vladimir Lenin's face towards the bottom-left.

Single release

At the time of its release, the plan to release the song as the album's final single was a point of disagreement for insiders. Sources close to the band claim that "Muzzle" was in fact due to be released as the final single, as is evidenced by the fact that a promotional single for the song was issued to radio stations worldwide.

Much to Corgan's dismay, the band's record label had created an "edit" of the song which they intended to release as a single (whether the edit was an abridged version a la the single releases of "Drown" and "Rhinoceros" or an entirely new mix remains unknown), although the eventual single release was identical to the version found on the album.

Music video

The music video for "Thirty-Three", directed both by Billy Corgan and then-girlfriend Yelena Yemchuk, is a series of images shot in stop-motion, ending with a re-enactment of the Mellon Collie album cover. Jimmy Chamberlin is notably absent from shots of the band. Because the group's videos so often avoid the literal interpretation of lyrics, the video for "Thirty-Three" was created with images closely related to the words of the song, as an intentional stylistic departure.

Lyrics

speak to me in a language i can hear
humour me before i have to go
deep in thought i forgive everyone
as the cluttered streets greet me once again
i know i can't be late, supper's waiting on the table
tomorrow's just an excuse away
so I pull my collar up and face the cold, on my own
the earth laughs beneath my heavy feet
at the blasphemy in my old jangly walk
steeple guide me to my heart and home
the sun is out and up and down again
i know i'll make it, love can last forever
graceful swans of never topple to the earth
and you can make it last, forever you
you can make it last, forever you
and for a moment i lose myself
wrapped up in the pleasures of the world
i've journeyed here and there and back again
but in the same old haunts i still find my friends
mysteries not ready to reveal
sympathies i'm ready to return
i'll make the effort, love can last forever
graceful swans of never topple to the earth
tomorrow's just an excuse
and you can make it last, forever you
you can make it last, forever you

B-sides

The B-side "The Last Song" features a guitar solo by Corgan's father, William Corgan Sr. and was performed live in full only once, at the Pumpkins final show at Chicago's Cabaret Metro.

The B-side "My Blue Heaven" features piano by Keith Brown, a song written in 1927 by George A. Whiting and Walter Donaldson.

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Ivy fame contributed piano for the B-side "The Bells".

Track listing

US and UK promo CD singles

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Thirty-Three"	Billy Corgan	4:09

US and UK maxi-CD singles

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Thirty-Three"	Billy Corgan	4:09
2.	"The Last Song"	Billy Corgan	3:55
3.	"The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)"	Billy Corgan	8:31
4.	"Transformer"	Billy Corgan	3:25

UK CD single CD2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Thirty-Three"	Billy Corgan	4:09
2.	"The Bells"	James Iha	2:17
3.	"My Blue Heaven"	George Whiting/Walter Donaldson	3:20

CD single from the The Aeroplane Flies High box set and Japanese promo CD single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Thirty-Three"	Billy Corgan	4:09
2.	"The Last Song"	Billy Corgan	3:55
3.	"The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)"	Billy Corgan	8:31
4.	"Transformer"	Billy Corgan	3:25
5.	"The Bells"	James Iha	2:17
6.	"My Blue Heaven"	George Whiting/Walter Donaldson	3:20

Release history

Released	Label	Catalog ID	Format	Country	External sites
1996	Virgin	7087 6 11571 2 3 • DPRO-11571	CD	US	Discogs		[1]
November 12, 1996	Virgin	7243 8 38574 2 5 • V25F-38574	CD	US	Discogs	MusicBrainz	[2]
November 11, 1996	Virgin	7243 8 93915 2 7	CD	Australia	Discogs		[2]
November 12, 1996	Virgin • Hut Recordings	7243 8 93909 2 6 • HUTCD 78	CD	UK	Discogs	MusicBrainz	[2]
November 12, 1996	Virgin	7243 8 93910 2 2 • HUTDX 78	CD	UK & Europe	Discogs	MusicBrainz	[3]
November 11, 1996	Virgin	VJCP-15019	CD	Japan	Discogs	MusicBrainz	[4]

More releases: Discogs • MusicBrainz

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1996–1997)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	51
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	24
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)	2
Netherlands (Single Top 100)	16
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)	7
Scotland (OCC)	26
UK Singles (OCC)	21
UK Rock and Metal (OCC)	1
US Billboard Hot 100	39
US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)	14
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)	2
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)	18

Year-end charts

Chart (1997)	Position
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)	33

Availability

Title	Notes	Type
Chicago Tapes and Unreleased Demos		Bootleg
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness	Disc two – Twilight to Starlight	Studio
Thirty-Three	US and UK promo CD singles	Single
MCIS Demos I		Bootleg
The Aeroplane Flies High	"Thirty-Three"	Box set
The Smashing Pumpkins 1991–1998	Promotional CD	Promotional • Compilation
The Videos		Video • Promotional
Greatest Hits Video Collection (1991–2000)		Video
Rarities and B-Sides		Compilation
MySpace Smashing Pumpkins Tribute		Tribute

Tour stats

• Total plays: 248 plays (242 full, 3 tease, 3 abandoned, 3 soundcheck), 217 acoustic, 2 artists
• First performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 1995-02-20 at Double Door, Chicago, IL, US
• Last performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2022-07-27 at Madame ZuZu's, Highland Park, IL, US

External links

• "Thirty-Three" at SPFC