By Starlight

From SPCodex, The Smashing Pumpkins wiki
"By Starlight"
Song by The Smashing Pumpkins
Released1995
Studio sessions
Length4:48
Songwriter(s)Billy Corgan

"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[edit | edit source]

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.[1]

Videos[edit | edit source]

Corgan solo, February 7, 2022

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

by starlight i'll kiss you
and promise to be your one and only
i'll make you feel happy
and leave you to be lost in mine
and where will we go, what will we do?
soon said i, will know
dead eyes, are you just like me?
cause her eyes were as vacant as the seas
dead eyes, are you just like me?
and all along, we knew we'd carry on
just to belong
by starlight i know you
as lovely as a wish granted true
my life has been empty, my life has been untrue
and does she really know, who i really am?
does she really know me at last
dead eyes, are you just like me?

Availability

TitleNotesType
Mellon Collie and the Infinite SadnessDisc two – Twilight to StarlightStudio
The Aeroplane Flies High2013 Reissue CD 3: ZeroBox set

Tour stats

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Brown, Jake (October 2016). "Smashing Pumpkins: A studio history with Billy Corgan, Flood, Jimmy Chamberlin, Butch Vig, Alan Moulder, and Tommy Lee". Tape-Op. Retrieved June 17, 2020.

External links[edit | edit source]