Thru the Eyes of Ruby

"Thru the Eyes of Ruby" is a song from The Smashing Pumpkins' third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The final recording reportedly contains as many as 70 guitar tracks. Although it is not widely known, it is a favorite song of some die-hard Pumpkins fans, and is a considered to be a song that exemplifies all the styles of music that the Pumpkins played leading up to that point.

The last ~40 seconds of the song is the same as the "Nighttime version 1" variant of "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" (the song), as featured on the 2012 reissue. Other versions available on the deluxe reissue include "Take 7" (slower, instrumental), a solo acoustic version, and "Pit mix 3" which is comprised solely of guitar feedback which may have been used for overdubbing.

In 2012, the song ranked at #10 in Rolling Stone 's reader's poll of the best Smashing Pumpkins songs.

Style
The song is considered a prime example of a progressive rock song from the Smashing Pumpkins. The song varies in dynamics often, starting off with a slow build-up which leads into a heavy intro riff. From there, the song then switches off between quiet and loud sections, while contnually introducting new sections of the song. At the end, the song gives way to the "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" theme with acoustic guitar playing the chords, and a clean electric guitar playing the melody.

Equipment
Corgan has stated he used his 1984 Marshall JCM 800 100-watt amp for the Mellon Collie session of "Thru the Eyes of Ruby", and the gain is especially noticeable at the 0:24 mark of the recording.

Live
Ruby was played extensively in the Infinite Sadness tour, but without the quiet outro. Instead, the band built up to a barrage of power chords and octave climbs. Towards the end of the tour, the band added a reprise of the opening guitar riff to the very end of the song. It made some appearances in the Adore tour, but under a new format. The quiet guitar riff that takes up the first few minutes of the normal song is primarily used, and the song does feature the loud/soft dynamics from the original. Ruby was also played at the final Metro show in Chicago. When the song returned to the setlist in the The Other Side of the Kaleidyscope tour, the ending gradually transitioned into an instrumental version of "I Am One".