Bullet With Butterfly Wings
"Believe it or not, the original riff from this song came to me during one of the Siamese Dream recording sessions. Somewhere, I have a tape of us from 1993 endlessly playing the "world is a vampire" part over and over. But it wasn't until a year and a half later that I finished the song, writing the "rat in the cage" part on an acoustic guitar at the BBC studios in London on the same day that "Landslide" was recorded."
Guitar World - Jan 1997
---
"I felt that 'Bullet' was the absolute obvious choice," explains Billy, "which is kind of why I didn't want it to be the first single. You know, in Pumpkinland, we don't really like to do the obvious thing." He chuckles. "I felt really close to 'Jellybelly', because it sounds to me like a classic Pumpkins song from a third album. It sounds to me like the manifestation of everything we've ever done on a third album, whereas 'Cherub Rock' sounded to me like a second album single. But 'Bullet's one of those songs where, you know, it's easy to sing along to and [he affects a drawl] ya gotta sell them records."
1995 Chart Magazine
---
Interviewer: I wondered about that when I heard BWBW, in which you write " Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage"
Billy: Yeah.
Interviewer: Was that informed by any particular incident?
Billy: Can you say Lollapalooza?(we all laugh) I mean, I'm not blaming Lollapalooza but the thing is this : Your own ambition puts you in a situation where you think " I'm finally getting what I want" And then you get what you want, and you realize that you're not really equipped to completely deal with it. Then you have to fight all those feelings. And then it just became a larger parable for life, you know, like you have a some shit job and you hate it and you want to kill everyone but you never say it.
Interviewer: But Lollapalooza is a symbol of where this generation is at, in terms of mass marketing of alternative music.
Billy: And the kids solidify it. They come thinking it's supposed to be some kind of entertainment package. They're not being educated because there's nothing to educate them, to say "This is alternative music," Head to toe. Basically, it's alternative music but it could be anybody. I mean, yeah, they got the piercing booth but the fact of the matter is it that's where you can really make your point. But I don't think people are intent on making that point. We seem to be the only ones.
1996-Big O magazine
---
CORGAN: The Vox has a lot to do with that. Also, when I used that amp, I mostly played a '72 Gibson 335 instead of my standard '57 reissue Strat.
GS: Is that 335 the same guitar that's in the "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" video?
CORGAN: No. We rented the 335 in the video because I didn't want to fly mine out to L.A. where I was going to be jumping around in the desert all day! [laughs] I bought my 335 at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, the same place where I picked up a 1928 National Steel that I'm in love with. I swear I'm going to learn to play slide on that thing. I like the 335; it's the only non-Strat guitar that I really enjoy playing.
GS: Can you use it for the really loud, heavy tuned even though it's a semi-hollow guitar?
CORGAN: Yeah, i'm fine with it. I can get that Ted Nugent, Double Live Gonzo sound, no problem. Sometimes when I'm playing the 335 on stage, I'll go ino [Nugent's] "Stranglehold" because the tone is exactly the same! The band always gets a kick out of that.
GS: Do you play that guitar on any other songs.
CORGAN: Right now, I'm just using it for "Tonight, Tonight," thought I'll probably start using it for other things, too. It sounds real good on "Bullet."
GS: Speaking of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," can you explain the different section of that tune?
CORGAN: Sure. The verse section is based around a droney chord shape. At the chorus, I shift to full 1st-position chords while James plays barre chords. The, for the breakdown, I switch to arpeggiations of the 1st-position chords.
--
GS: What makes that super high-pitched sound that goes through "Where Boys," beginning at :45?
CORGAN: I used a '74 Strat, commonly known as the "I love My Mom" guitar. That guitar has since been painted baby blue. I used it on the main rhythm of "Muzzle," through the reach setup.
GS: That's a fantastic guitar sound.
CORGAN: Yeah. The guitar is made of a heavier wood so it's got the basic Strat sound but with more bottom, more of a low-fi kind of sound that's real nice. It sounds good for certain songs. I played that guitar on "Bullet," too, because it has a little more "Chunk" on the bottom end.
1996 - Guitar School
---
GW: What's the sickest pedal that you own?
CORGAN: The Fender Blender. Kevin Shields [of my Bloody Valentine] told me to get one. It's just the destructo pedal of all time. Listen to the song "Bullet" - at about two-and-a-half minutes there's a part where the key changes and it comes in all loud and thick and the speakers sound real distorty. That's that pedal. There are so many weird harmonics in the thing that if you turn it up a certain way, you get distortion beyond distortion. It makes the guitar sound almost unintelligible.
1995 - Guitar World