Panopticon

"Panopticon"
Single by The Smashing Pumpkins
Album Lyrics Tabs Spotify
Released	September 15, 2012
Format	Digital download
Studio sessions	February 2011 – Sweet 16 Studio May-September 2011 – Pumpkinland II
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	3:52
Label	EMI Caroline Martha's Music
Songwriter(s)	Billy Corgan
Producer(s)	Billy Corgan, Bjorn Thorsrud
The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology
"The Celestials" (2012) "Panopticon" (2012) "Being Beige" (2014)
Oceania Quasar Panopticon The Celestials Violet Rays My Love Is Winter One Diamond, One Heart Pinwheels Oceania Pale Horse The Chimera Glissandra Inkless Wildflower

"Panopticon" is the second single from The Smashing Pumpkins's eighth album Oceania. It was originally released as a promotional single to radio airplay on September 15, 2012.

Background and recording

In an interview with MusicRadar, Corgan stated, "It's similar to Quasar in that we had the opening riff and didn't know what to do with it. It sat for a while, but everybody felt strongly about it. It had a, dare I say, 'modern-feeling' to it, but still in the style of guitar that I like to play. Ultimately, I just sat down and wrote the song on the piano. Sometimes, when you've got a riffy song, it helps to just play the chords with no rhythm, and then you hear the 'song' in it. It's those very Paul McCartney/Wings-type chords – Broadway-type chords. What I'm most proud of from a songwriting standpoint is how it goes from D major to A minor. It goes from a very 'majorly' feel into something sorrowful, almost a Spanish feel. I don't know how the heck I did that, but it's one of my favorite things in the song, how you can keep the key but change the emotion."

Corgan used a Kimberly Bison guitar (nicknamed "Kimberly Kay") in the recording.

Reception

NME described the song as "elegant and dreamy". Consequence of Sound declared that it was "heroic". Spin magazine's review of Oceania focused on Byrne's drumming on Panopticon, stating "the impressive, tom-heavy rumble of "Panopticon" quickly asserts his lithe, explosive, decidedly Jimmy Chamberlain-esque ferocity, a deft balance of muscle and sinew." Artistdirect also emphasized Byrne's contribution by describing his drumming as "flawless percussive propulsion".

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted Nicole Fiorentino's "highly musical bass lines".

Lyrics

Rise! Love is here
Oh don't make me wonder
Life's never clear where choice is a gift
To use and abuse
To build on proof
Oh don't make me suffer
Birds find the wind and wing
Rest in the shells I've designed
Run through the fields I've denied
And stroll upon the years I'm alive

There's a sun that shines in
There's a world that stares out at me
And all I refuse to please

Breathe! Love is air
Oh don't make me suffer
To dash debonair where chaste is the wish
To bust with pain
A heart goes blank
Oh don't make me wonder
To ask on behalf of you
Of you, where are you?
Where are you in you?
There's a sun that shines in
There's a world that stares out at me
And all I refuse to please
There's a sun that shines in
There's a world that stares out at me
And all I refuse
And all I'd ever use in me
There's a sun that shines in me
There's a sun that shines
There's a sun that shines in me

Release

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Panopticon"	Billy Corgan	3:52

Released	Label	Catalog ID	Format	Country	External sites
September 15, 2012	Martha's Music • Prospect Park		CD	US	Discogs		[1]

Availability

Title	Type
Oceania	Studio
Panopticon	Promo
Oceania: Live in NYC	Live • Video

Tour stats

• Total plays: 104 plays (104 full, 1 soundcheck)
• First performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2010-07-17 at Music Farm, Charleston, SC, US (soundcheck)
• First full performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2011-10-05 at Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, US
• Last performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2024-06-21 at ZAG-Arena, Hanover, DE

External links

• "Panopticon" at SPFC