The Canary Trainer

"The Canary Trainer" is the third song from Act III of the The Smashing Pumpkins' 2023 rock opera, ATUM.

Background
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.

"The Canary Trainer" was originally recorded in the 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 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.

It's worth noting that Corgan generally insists on using analog technology the studio, and doesn't use comping or pitch shifting of his vocals, which would have been a much easier option to complete "The Canary Trainer".

The song title is a reference to how Corgan has at times felt like a canary – a song bird trained 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.

Synopsis
From the audience, Osirah watches as Shiny makes his grand appearance. However, she is extremely disappointed in how he responds to the situation. She believed that Shiny would be the catalyst for a great revolution upon landing, but instead he appears to go along with what the X+I have set up for him. "The Canary Trainer" is Osirah voicing how much her heart is broken after seeing the real Shiny in the flesh.