Thirty-Three (song)
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"Thirty-Three" is a song by American
alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...
band
the Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Ch ...
. It was the fifth and final
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
from their third album, ''
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' is the third studio album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on October 24, 1995, in the United Kingdom and a day later in the United States on Virgin Records. Produced by ...
'' (1995), in November 1996. It was the first single released after the firing of
Jimmy Chamberlin James Joseph Chamberlin (born June 10, 1964) is an American drummer and record producer. He is best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Following the 2000 breakup of the band, Chamberlin joined Pumpkins fro ...
and death of
Jonathan Melvoin Jonathan David Melvoin (December 6, 1961 – July 12, 1996) was an American musician, active in the 1980s and 1990s. Early life He was the son of Constance (née Ives) and Mike Melvoin, keyboardist for The Wrecking Crew, and brother of ...
. The song peaked at 39 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the band's fourth and final top-40 hit there, number seven in New Zealand and the top 30 in Canada and the United Kingdom. In Canada, it coincidentally finished at number 33 on the ''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
'' Alternative 30 year-end chart for 1997.


Background

The song was described by Billy Corgan as "a simple song in a country tuning", and was the first song that he wrote after the ''
Siamese Dream ''Siamese Dream'' is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 27, 1993, on Virgin Records. Despite recording sessions fraught with difficulties and tensions, ''Siamese Dream'' debuted at num ...
'' tour. The guitars in the song are tuned to EGBGBE half a step down, and the drum machine track is exactly the same track Corgan recorded when he laid down the demo version of the song, because he was unable to recreate it. In a taping of ''
VH1 Storytellers ''Storytellers'' is a television music series produced by the VH1 network. In each episode, artists perform in front of a (mostly small and intimate) live audience, and tell stories about their music, writing experiences and memories, somewhat ...
'' on August 24, 2000, Corgan joked that he planned on making "Thirty-Three", "Sixty-Six", and "Ninety-Nine", but only finished "Thirty-Three". When the band released their greatest hits collection in 2001, ''Thirty-Three'' made neither the international nor the US version. It was included, however, on the ''
Greatest Hits Video Collection Greatest may refer to: * ''Greatest!'', a 1959 album by Johnny Cash * ''Bee Gees Greatest'', a 1979 album by Bee Gees * ''Greatest'' (The Go-Go's album), 1990 * ''Greatest'' (Duran Duran album), 1998 * Greatest (song), a song by Eminem * "Greate ...
''.


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.


Music video

The music video for "Thirty-Three", directed both by Billy Corgan and then-girlfriend
Yelena Yemchuk Yelena Yemchuk ( Ukrainian: Єлена Ємчук, born April 22, 1970) is a Ukrainian photographer, painter and film director, best known for her work with The Smashing Pumpkins. Early life Born in Kyiv, Ukraine to an athlete and a teacher ...
, 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. Although the group's videos habitually avoid the literal interpretation of a song's lyrics, the video for "Thirty-Three" was created with images closely related to the words of the song, as an intentional stylistic departure.


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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
's
Cabaret Metro Metro (formerly the Stages Music Hall and Cabaret Metro) is a concert hall in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that plays host to a variety of local, regional and national emerging bands and musicians. The Metro was first opened in 1982. Th ...
. The B-side " My Blue Heaven" features piano by Keith Brown, a song written in 1927 by
George A. Whiting George A. Whiting was a vaudeville song and dance man, and also a writer of lyrics for popular songs during the vaudeville era. He toured with singer Sadie Burt, whom he later married and had 3 daughters with. His best-known work is " My Blue ...
and
Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson (February 15, 1893 – July 15, 1947) was an American prolific popular songwriter and publishing company founder, composing many hit songs of the 1910s to 1940s, that have become standards and form part of the Great American Song ...
.
Adam Schlesinger Adam Lyons Schlesinger (October 31, 1967 – April 1, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was a key songwriting contri ...
of
Fountains of Wayne Fountains of Wayne was an American rock band that formed in New York City in 1995. The band included founding members Chris Collingwood, Adam Schlesinger, Jody Porter, and Brian Young. They released five albums from 1996 to 2011 before e ...
and
Ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...
fame contributed piano for the B-side "The Bells".


Track listings


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Release history


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thirty-Three (Song) The Smashing Pumpkins songs 1995 songs 1996 singles Hut Records singles Rock ballads Songs written by Billy Corgan Song recordings produced by Alan Moulder Song recordings produced by Billy Corgan Song recordings produced by Flood (producer)