Thirty-Three (song)

"Thirty-Three"
Single by The Smashing Pumpkins
from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Released	November 11, 1996
Format	CD
Recorded	1995
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	4:10
Label	Virgin
Writer(s)	Billy Corgan
Producer(s)	Flood, Alan Moulder, and Billy Corgan
The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology
"Muzzle" (1996) "Thirty-Three" (1996) "Eye" (1996)
Alternative cover UK CD single 2

"Thirty-Three" is a song by American alternative rock band 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.^{[citation needed]}

Background

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 tuned to EGBGBE half a step down. The drum machine track is exactly the same track Corgan recorded when he laid down the demo version of the song, because he "couldn't remember how to recreate it".^[1]

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

When the band released their greatest hits collection in 2001, Thirty-Three made neither the international nor the US version. It was included, however, for the Greatest Hits Video Collection.

Single release

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. 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.^[2] The band went on to perform "Muzzle" for their next television appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with replacement drummer, Matt Walker.

Music video

The music video for "Thirty-Three", directed both by Billy Corgan and then-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.^[3]

Fans launched a large attack on the MTV show Total Request Live to have the song played on Billy Corgan's thirty-third birthday in 2000. The project was not a success, failing to achieve enough requests, but was mentioned on air by host Carson Daly.^{[citation needed]}

B-sides

The B-side "The Last Song" features a guitar solo by Corgan's father, Billy Corgan, Sr. 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 A. 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".

Track listing

Chart positions

References

External links

• "Thirty-Three" Official music video on YouTube