By Starlight

"By Starlight"
Song by The Smashing Pumpkins
Album Lyrics Tabs Spotify
Released	1995
Studio sessions	March-August 1995 – Pumpkinland and Chicago Recording Company; August 1995 – The Village Recorder;
Length	4:48
Songwriter(s)	Billy Corgan
	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;

"By Starlight" is a song from The Smashing Pumpkins' third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

In a June 16, 2015 VIP Q&A, Billy Corgan admitted he couldn't remember the meaning of the song for him at the time, but that he did intend to "capture the feeling of nighttime", and credited producer Flood for helping actualize this. He explained that prior to Flood's intervention, the song had an "overly sentimental" style of 1970s ELO akin to "Luna".

Equipment[edit | edit source]

In a 2016 interview with Tape-Op, Corgan said he played a '72 Gibson 335 through a 1964 Vox AC30 guitar amp on "By Starlight". Towards the end of the recording, starting at around the 4:12 mark, Corgan is standing in front of the amp while cranking up the volume, producing feedback and an octave effect. The guitar was double-tracked each offering different feedback tones.^[1]

Videos[edit | edit source]

Corgan solo, February 7, 2022

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

by starlight i'll kiss you
and promise to be your one and only
i'll make you feel happy
and leave you to be lost in mine
and where will we go, what will we do?
soon said i, will know
dead eyes, are you just like me?
cause her eyes were as vacant as the seas
dead eyes, are you just like me?
and all along, we knew we'd carry on
just to belong
by starlight i know you
as lovely as a wish granted true
my life has been empty, my life has been untrue
and does she really know, who i really am?
does she really know me at last
dead eyes, are you just like me?

Availability

Title	Notes	Type
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness	Disc two – Twilight to Starlight	Studio
The Aeroplane Flies High	2013 Reissue CD 3: Zero	Box set

Tour stats

Total plays: 103 plays (97 full, 6 tease, 3 soundcheck), 9 acoustic, 2 artists
First performance: The Smashing Pumpkins 1995-02-20 at Double Door, Chicago, IL, US
Last performance: Billy Corgan 2022-02-07 at Madame ZuZu's, Highland Park, IL, US

References[edit | edit source]

↑ Brown, Jake (October 2016). "Smashing Pumpkins: A studio history with Billy Corgan, Flood, Jimmy Chamberlin, Butch Vig, Alan Moulder, and Tommy Lee". Tape-Op. Retrieved June 17, 2020.

External links[edit | edit source]

"By Starlight" at SPFC

[:0-1] Brown, Jake (October 2016). "Smashing Pumpkins: A studio history with Billy Corgan, Flood, Jimmy Chamberlin, Butch Vig, Alan Moulder, and Tommy Lee". Tape-Op. Retrieved June 17, 2020.

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