Thirty-Three (song)

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For the Coheed and Cambria song, see "33 (song)"
"Thirty-Three"
"Thirty-Three" cover
Single by The Smashing Pumpkins
from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Released November 11, 1996
Format Cassette tape and CD
Recorded 1995
Genre Alternative rock
Length 4:10
Label Virgin Records
Writer Billy Corgan
Producer Flood, Alan Moulder and Billy Corgan
The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology
"Muzzle"
(1996)
"Thirty-Three"
(1996)
"Eye"
(1996)
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness track listing
"Bodies"
(16)
"Thirty-Three"
(17)
"In the Arms of Sleep"
(18)

"Thirty-Three" is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the fifth and final single from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was also the first single released after the firing of Jimmy Chamberlin and death of Jonathan Melvoin. The song peaked at 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1996.

Contents

About the song, Billy Corgan said it was "A simple song in a country tuning" and was the first song written by Corgan after the Siamese Dream tour. The guitars recorded in the song are in the rather unorthodox tuning of EGDGBE (whereas normal tuning is EADGBE). The drum machine track is the exact same track Corgan recorded when he laid down the demo version of this song, because he 'couldn't remember how to recreate it' (Guitar World, 1997).

Corgan revealed on an August 24, 2000, taping of VH1 Storytellers he planned on making '33', '66', and '99', but only finished '33'.

At the time of its release, the plan to release the song as the album's final single was a point of disagreement for insiders. Sources close to the band claim that "Muzzle" was in fact due to be released as the final single, as is evidenced by the fact that a promotional single for the song was issued to radio stations worldwide. It is possible that the change was made because "Thirty-Three" is one of the few songs on the album that doesn't feature Jimmy Chamberlin's drums. Some have gone on to say that a music video was actually filmed for "Muzzle" with Chamberlin, but was never released. Billy Corgan has, however, denied this.[1] The band went on to perform "Muzzle" for their next television appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with replacement drummer, Matt Walker.

The music video for "Thirty-Three", directed both by Billy Corgan and girlfriend Yelena Yemchuk, is a series of images shot in stop-motion, ending with a re-enactment of the Mellon Collie album cover. Jimmy Chamberlin is notably absent from shots of the band. Because the group's videos so often avoid the literal interpretation of lyrics, the video for "Thirty-Three" was created with images closely related to the words of the song, as an intentional stylistic departure.[2]

Fans launched a large attack on the MTV show Total Request Live to have the song played on Billy Corgan's thirty third birthday. The project was not a success, failing to achieve enough requests, but was mentioned on air by host Carson Daly. Inside sources have, however, claimed that the video would have made the #3 spot, but MTV refused and claimed it as #11.[citation needed]

The b-side "The Last Song" features a guitar solo by Corgan's father, Billy Corgan Senior and was performed live only once, at the Pumpkins final show at Chicago's Cabaret Metro.

The b-side "My Blue Heaven" features piano by Keith Brown. Corgan has said that he found it hard to play someone else's song ("My Blue Heaven" was written in 1927 by George Whiting and Walter Donaldson), likely prompting him to call on Brown for help.

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Ivy fame contributed piano for the b-side "The Bells".

Like "Tonight, Tonight," "Thirty Three" was issued as two singles with different B-sides. Only tracks 2, 3 and 4 were on the first version, and only tracks 5 and 6 on the second. The songs were combined onto one disc for The Aeroplane Flies High box set.

  1. "Thirty-Three" (Billy Corgan) – 4:10
  2. "The Last Song" (Corgan) – 3:55
  3. "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" (Corgan) – 8:31
  4. "Transformer" (Corgan) – 3:25
  5. "The Bells" (James Iha) – 2:17
  6. "My Blue Heaven" (George Whiting/Walter Donaldson) – 3:20

  1. ^ Daher, Karl (1998-5-29). Listessa Interviews Billy Corgan. Listessa. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  2. ^ Commentary for "Thirty-Three" music video. The Smashing Pumpkins 1991–2000: Greatest Hits Video Collection (Virgin Records, 2001).


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