Violet Rays

From SPCodex, The Smashing Pumpkins wiki
"Violet Rays"
Song by The Smashing Pumpkins
ReleasedJune 19, 2012
Studio sessions
Length4:19
Songwriter(s)Billy Corgan

"Violet Rays" is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins off of their 2012 studio album, Oceania. Although not released as a single, it charted on the Billboard Rock Digital chart due to online sales, peaking at #27.

It was written as a straight acoustic song, starting with just the ascending figure. After months of hearing the basic demo, Corgan broke down the song into chords without any rhythm, wrote the song melodically and reverse-engineered it back into the riffs.[1]

The arpeggios heard in the recording are a Moog 55 keyboard.[1]

Videos[edit | edit source]

Live at The Gruenspan, Hamburg, Germany on July 22, 2019

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

Faithless moors
Pulling up your oars
From rivers I have crossed
In magic no heart's lost
And I'll leave with anyone this night
And I'll kiss anyone tonight
Am I the only one you see?
Raised from the path of revelry

Spells fall frail
Webs catching sail
In eternal eternities
Divine purpose catching free
And I'll leave with anyone this night
And I'll kiss anyone tonight
Am I the only one you see?
Seized from the wrath of revelry
Am I the only one you see?
Does love matter when loves the actor
For what you are after is me
Babe, don't leave me, please believe me
'Cause I'm so easy to know
Am I the only one you see?
Raised from the path of revelry
Am I the only one you see?

Chart performance[edit | edit source]

Chart (2012) Peak
position
US Rock Digital songs (Billboard)[2] 27
US Alternative Digital songs (Billboard)[3] 20

Availability

TitleType
OceaniaStudio
Oceania: Live in NYCLive • Video

Tour stats

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bosso, Joe. "Interview: Billy Corgan talks The Smashing Pumpkins' Oceania track-by-track". MusicRadar. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  2. "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History (Rock Digital songs)". Billboard.
  3. "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History (Alternative Digital songs)". Billboard.

External links[edit | edit source]