Thirty Three

During the taping of VH-1 Storytellers, Billy talked about the meaning of “Thirty-Three” when he said, “The year was 1994 and I just moved into a new house that was eventually going to be a purple Victorian house in Chicago. And this is the first song that I wrote for that album. And um, this song really embodies the spirit of that time. I had just gotten married, I’d just moved into a new house, the band was achieving the kind of success that people only dream of and I was really hopeful with the idea that I was eventually and someday –and it looked like it was going to happen– actually have a happy life. It didn’t quite work out that way. But I don’t think that’s what I really want to emphasize about this particular song. Um, you know, hope is really the key component in life because one must have hope and faith to actually get out of bed and do anything in this world. And um, you know, in my mind at that time, I think I was 27 years old, I thought that I had arrived. I supposedly had everything one would want: the wife, the cat, the house, the car, and the money and the –oh yeah, the fame. And um, but I think what I’m really trying to say here is all I ever really wanted was a happy home.”

found it here, you can find the video easily http://dontforgetthesongs365.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/smashing-pumpkins-thirty-three/

This seems like such a deeply personal song - even compared to all others he wrote. It really captures a time in a persons life. Early middle age - 33 years old. Pull my collar up and face the cold on my own. Even with a wife and kids and supper waiting on the table you can feel like you are very much alone. You against the world sort of thing. And who is looking out for you? You just want to be a child. Or at least feel loved like one. Just loved because you are you. Not for really any other reason. For a moment I lose myself. Those rare moments when you aren't all up inside your own head. Just actually enjoying life. It really doesn't get much better here on earth. But those times seem really fleeting. This album was a huge part of my formative years. Yet I actually have come to appreciate the lyrics more as I have grown older. I can relate all too well to Billy's depression. Great pain makes great art. Just look at Psalm 77 and Psalm 88. Two really dark songs of anxiety and depression. Billy Corgan is the closest thing we have to a modern Psalmist.

I believe simply the song is an abstract version of his thoughts on what was happening to his band.The success and what it was doing to him and the band(drugs,bad relationships etc.). Its not about Jesus. Billy Corgan once wrote He had a million dollars in his bank account from Virgin Records from the first album GISH. And now Virgin was expecting something good from the band. But Billy Corgan IS the band, that amount of pressure almost lead to his suicide. But something happened out of it one day and so TODAY was born from that.

fast foward to this song and Now we have Billy revisiting "Haunts" but He is a smart guy and found a way to translate it into THIRTY-Three. The irony of it is when the Tarot card reader said'' you''ll reach a higher sucess at Thirty-three..." well he was only twenty-seven when the band reached HIGH success.

Now what ? he might say-"Mysteries not ready to reaveal.."

I think the "YOU can make it last " is him telling himself this. An affirmation.

etc. etc. keep listening

whether he meant it or not, (which i'm almost sure he did because the biblical allusions and references to the crucifiction are blatant if you look for them), this song is about Jesus's last couple days as a mortal. He was 33 when crucified, he "forgives everyone", the cluttered streets that greet him refer to the thousands of the lame and sick that beg to be touched and healed, the "supper" that's waiting on the table refers to the Last Supper with his disciples on the night before he died, "steeple guide me to my heart and home" alludes to God the Father leading him to remain faithful even though he's about to be crucified though he could prove his power by one simple miracle.
i love this song. it took me scrounging up meloncholy (what a great collection) a couple years after it was released to understand the meaning. i was in like, 5th grade or something when it first came out so i listened to it without really reflecting on the lyrics

One of the most well written, well composed songs I have ever had the pleasure of listening too in my life thus far. At times it does sound like Corgan is referring to Jesus, but also referring to what could possibly his own self doubt or losing faith and regaining it again through music? Either way, we truly have to recognize this piece of literature as a piece of precious history. It is so rare that we as people find a truly talented writer such as Corgan. I am proud to have experienced his music through the 90`s and beyond and will continually pass ti down with the generations to come.

this song is so beautiful. billy said it was about his divorce with courtney love i think? he had to move out of his apartment (as the cluttered streets greet me once again). he's hurt by this breakup and believes that maybe they can still hold on to whatever love is left (and you can make it last). he knows he has to get through this and he has his true friends to turn to blahblahblah. and when he was feeling all this pain he felt that life was meaningless and didn't have the will to go on (tomorrow's just an excuse away). oh yeah and he tried to forget about the pain by doing things (and for a moment i lose myself, wrapped up in the pleasures of the world) but it didn't work because the pain was still there (i've journeyed here and there and back again). ok that's all, i just want to say again that this song is beautiful and the video is surreal and lovely and it ROCKS

sounds good Ethilien...I like your interpretation...the only thing I could add is that "home" is a safe place for everyone...it's a sanctuary where all your friends are...even at 33 years of age. That's what i got out of the number. Any other reason for the #?

I can't remember the exact context but it has a link to jesus, who died at the age of 33. billy was also 33 when the pumpkins broke up. if you have the 33 single, it has a picture of jesus on it.

also, your points don't make any sense.

1. If Jesus was the one preaching, why would he ask people to speak to him in a language he can hear? Wouldn't he say "Let me speak to YOU in a language YOU can hear"?

2. "Cluttered streets" doesn't mean covered with people, it means dirty and trashy. "crowded streets" would have fit just as well into the song, so why didn't he use that?

3. Last time i checked, people in Judea didn't have collars and Jesus died with people on either side of him, so he wasn't alone. Also, It was Calvary Hill, not "Skull Mountain." That's where fucking Skeletor lives. Castle greyskull is on top of it.

4. A jangly walk signifies happiness, not fatigue, thus the "blasphemy" is that he's really depressed, but is acting happy.

5. I'm no meteorologist, but I think I'm qualified to say that the sun doesn't go up and down every time it starts and stops raining. So "the sun is out and up and down again" only signifies the passage of time, not rain after Jesus dies.

6. Miracles are "graceful swans of never"? no. The word "topple" implies an accident or a hard fall. Miracles don't topple from God you just tried to fit that line to whatever you wanted it to mean. What if i said it signified snow because snow topples to the earth from the sky? or that it signified the dropping of the atomic bomb because the bomb toppled out of an airplane and onto a bunch of japanese people? that wouldnt make any sense, would it? But yours does because you can relate anything to God and that makes it automatically true.

I'm Catholic and I've had to write innumerable amounts of essays relating various books, poems, etc. to God and your points remind me of things I wrote when i didn't think whatever I was writing about was actually about God and just had to bullshit my way through a paper to get a decent grade. You can't say something is about God without knowing the writer's background. Billy wasn't religious. You are wrong.

I love how this song is linked to Jesus and the bible. That's the beauty and genius of how the bible was written and how it is still being taught. It can be interpreted and tied to just about anything. Like a horoscope....it's all BS. Personally, I think Bullet is about the church. "the 'church' is a vampire, sent to drain.... Secret destroyers, hold you out to the flames" "And what do I get, for my pain? Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game" If I'm wrong, god delete this message before its posted.