By Starlight

"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
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.