The Last Song

"The Last Song"
Song by The Smashing Pumpkins
Album Lyrics Tabs Spotify
Released	November 11, 1996
Studio sessions	March 1996 – Charing Cross Studios
Length	3:55
Songwriter(s)	Billy Corgan

"The Last Song" is a song from the The Smashing Pumpkins' box set, The Aeroplane Flies High. It was originally released as a B-side on the "Thirty-Three" US and UK maxi-CD single. The song features a guitar solo by Corgan's father, William Corgan Sr. and was performed live only once, at the Pumpkins final show at Chicago's Cabaret Metro.

“ This is the only B-side written entirely after Mellon Collie was completed; I always seem to write a little burst of songs in the momentum of finishing an album (see "Drown"). I thought for a while about holding this song for our next record, but in the end I decided that it was so in the spirit of Mellon Collie that it was best served as an extra track. I never intended to have a guitar solo, but my father was hanging out with me at the studio, so I asked him to play on it. Every time I hear this song, I burst with pride to hear my father's great, and very influential to me, guitar playing. ” — Billy Corgan, Guitar World, January 1997

Lyrics

this is the last song
this is the last song i'll sing for you
this is the last song
this is the last song i can give you
the roaring city sleeps
metal fingers clutching dirty sheets
and no one comes for free
in this place where the angels sleep
this is the last song
my eyes are open wonder to this
as you hold the secrets
i count the minutes off so perfectly
the shards of broken glass
sing the strains of a sad old tune
we've made it at last
but what we had is lost inside our past
this is the last song
could you find away across me
to forgive and forget me
to appease and relent me
to deceive and detect me
to understand and release me
to the dawn
this is the last song

Availability

Title	Notes	Type
Thirty-Three	US and UK maxi-CD singles	Single
The Aeroplane Flies High Sampler	US Virgin promo CD	Promotional
The Aeroplane Flies High	"Thirty-Three"	Box set
Rarities and B-Sides		Compilation

Tour stats

• Total plays: 3 plays (1 full, 2 tease)
• First performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 1996-12-17 at Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA, US (tease)
• First full performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2000-12-02 at Metro, Chicago, IL, US
• Last performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 2000-12-02 at Metro, Chicago, IL, US

Additional personnel

• William Corgan Sr. – guitar solo

External links

• "The Last Song" at SPFC