The Canary Trainer: Difference between revisions

Originally when planning ''ATUM'', [[Billy Corgan]] had a different song in this part of the story called "[[X-Ray]]". In what was a rare move for Corgan, he "nixed the song into oblivion, never to be heard again" during the recording process. "The Canary Trainer" is what replaced it, which was only loosely based off of "X-Ray", if at all.<ref name="podcast">{{Cite podcast|url=https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-thirty-three-with-william-101982283/episode/the-canary-trainer-109673683/|title=The Canary Trainer|work=[[Thirty-Three (podcast)|Thirty-Three]]|first=Billy|last=Corgan|access-date=May 3, 2023}}</ref>

"The Canary Trainer" was originally recorded in the [[W:Key (music)|key]] of A. After recording all the instrumentation, Corgan attempted the vocals before he and engineer [[Howard Willing]] realized they needed to lower the key to better suit Corgan's range. Having already spent days recording, they reluctantly decided to use computer software to shift the song down a [[W:Semitone|half step]]. Afterwards, Corgan still struggled with the vocal. It took three more shifts, amounting to two full steps down, before the song suited Corgan's vocal. Each time resulted in the instrumentation tracks to degrade further from their original quality. However in the end, Corgan was quite pleased with the "dusky, surreal ambiance" that aligned with the meaning of the song – a young person who is very disappointed in someone they had admired as a hero.<ref name="podcast" />

It's worth noting that Corgan generally insists on using analog technology the studio, and doesn't use [[W:Comping (post-production)|comping]] or pitch shifting of his vocals, which would have been a much easier option to complete "The Canary Trainer".<ref name="podcast" />

The song title is a reference to how Corgan has at times felt like a [[W:Canary|canary]] – a song bird trained [[Bullet with Butterfly Wings|in a cage]] who is expected to sing on cue. Similarly, the canary in the song is Shiny, who Osirah believed would sing on cue when the stage lights hit him.<ref name="podcast" />