this is such a beautiful song. so sad. i cry every time i hear it.

I've always viewed this song as a girl close to a man dies in a horrible car accident involving a big-rig on a rainy night. Billy (or the boy in this song/story) attends her funeral and is barely keeping his face straight as the pallbearers bring her coffin to her grave. He watches them put her to rest in the earth and his mind splits. Being a boy of religion, he believed God had people die for a reason ("And for the first time Heaven seemed insane, 'cause heaven is to blame for taking you away"). He didn't think it was her time and this thought drove him insane and became tottally dependent on the thought that it should have been the cliche "him and not her." He spends most of his free time at her grave in the rain, sometimes with an umbrella standing above her body shading her from rain, sometimes crumpled upon the floor grasping to her tombstone. His family tries to make him see that she is dead and gone and he becomes frustrated. They wonder about what has happened to their son (Where is your heart? Where has your heart run to?) He wants to be free from her as she is of him (Tear me apart from you).

I have a very vivid storyline that runs through my head every time I hear this song. I'll quiet myself now :P (Forgive any typos)

My interpretation is this is about him being torn apart from God because of an incident wherein his loved one dies. I know a lot of people are sick of songs being interpreted as related to religion but i think it's a bit obvious in this song:

the lights came on fast lost in motorcrash gone in a flash unreal but you knew all along you laugh the light I sing the songs to watch you numb (His loved one dies, so fast. Gone in a flash unreal like he says, but he then says that YOU KNEW ALL ALONG. As always, God is interpreted as someone who knows almost everything, when people are born, when they die, etc etc. Then he proceeds to say "you laugh the light i sing the songs". It means that God is getting praises but Billy Corgan ends up singing the songs, since it's his way of expressing his sadness of the situation.)

I saw you there you were on your way you held the rain and for the first time heaven seemed insane cause heaven is to blame for taking you away (He then exagerates that he saw God there, he was on his way, and he held the rain. Then he even comments that HEAVEN IS TO BLAME, FOR TAKING HIS LOVED ONE AWAY.)

do you know the way that I can? do you know the way that I can't lose? do you know the things that I can? do you know the things that I can do? (Then he cries about the situation, stating that he's just human. That's why he asks these questions, especially the part where he asks "do you know the things that I can do?". this means that God knows he can't bring back people from the dead and that his loved one is lost forever)

where is your heart? where is your heart gone to? tear me apart tear me apart from you you laugh the light I cry the wound in gray afternoons (this is the part where he asks God, "where is your heart? where is your heart gone to? Tear me apart from you which means that he starts doubting either the existence of God, or if God is truly a good God. Once again he says"you laugh the light I cry the wound". God get's the praises from people while he cries about the hurt it caused him.

I saw you there you were on your way you held the rain and for the first time heaven seemed insane cause heaven is to blame for taking you away (once again same interpretation)

the lights came to pass dead opera motorcrash gone in a flash unreal in nitrous overcast

do you know the way that I can? do you know the way that I can't choose? do you know the things that I can? do you know the things that I can't lose?

tear me apart tear me apart from you where is your heart? where has your heart run to?

then this pretty much is just a repeat. He talks about the car crash again, and how he's just human, and how he's being torn apart from God because of what happened.

I also would like to say that this album was made on a time wherein Billy Corgan's mother died, which could be the reason why he made the song. He could have felt terrible when his mother died that it caused him to question God.

why are there so few comments about this song? it's brilliant and it has to be the most moving song on adore.

I think this song is about a girl dying in a car crash. However, it may have been suicide because of the lines, "But you knew all along" and "You laugh the light / I cry the wound." This person could be laughing because she wanted to die and got her wish. The lines "Where is your heart? / Where is your heart gone to?" express the singer's sorrow over the heartlessness the girl had, to kill herself despite the fact that he loved her.

Great Song. Probably my fave on the album. The Smashing Pumpkins Rock!!!

Soot&Stars, that was a pretty vivid interpretation, in fact it will prolly replace my interpretation which was pretty bland, generic, trite, etc. Thanks for the insight.

I think like most of the songs on Adore r about Billy's mother dying though im not sure if she exactly died in a car crash as its stated in the song: lost in motorcrash. This is a great song!!!

this song is so good the guitar at the beginning is perfect

Good answer tentnant! Billy wrote adore after the death of his mothers.(It is probably full of references of her.)