Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (song)

"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" is the opening and title-track for The Smashing Pumpkins' third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 1997 Grammy Awards.

The "Nighttime version 1" variant as featured on the 2012 Mellon Collie reissue is the same chord progression and melody as the final ~40 seconds or so of "Thru the Eyes of Ruby". An inverted form of the song appears at the end of the album's final track, "Farewell and Goodnight".

Background
The song title, and incidentally the album, was devised as Billy Corgan was walking around Coney Island in 1991. An earlier version of the song, now known as "Infinite Sadness", was an outtake from the Siamese Dream sessions. That version, which is in a different key and features a full band arrangement, was released on the vinyl release of Mellon Collie and later on the 2013 reissue of The Aeroplane Flies High. In 1994, Corgan created the piano arrangement in home at Sadlands.