Song of the day: Smashing Pumpkins - Siva

Smashing Pumpkins was always a band that never really fit in the definition of "alternative". Their first album, Gish was produced by Billy Corgan and Butch Vig and was a nice introduction to the band, albeit, an innocent one. They seemed to hold back. It was their debut after all and bands almost never found the same afterward. The album had a nice mixture of 70s rock and psychedelia, and it's an album I usually go back to. Billy Corgan described it as a "very spiritual album". Billy Corgan famously performed all the guitar and bass on this album. He has been known to be a perfectionist in that way. Billy Corgan had the following to say about the album. 

"The album is about pain and spiritual ascension. People ask if it's a political album. It's not a political album, it's a personal album. In a weird kind of way, Gish is almost like an instrumental album - it just happens to have singing on it, but the music overpowers the band in a lot of places. I was trying to say a lot of things I couldn't really say in kind of intangible, unspeakable ways, so I was capable of doing that with the music, but I don't think I was capable of doing it with words"

One of my favorite songs from this album is Siva.  The song was originally entitled Shiva, named after the Tantric concept of opposing male and female forces, which is not really a concept explored in alternative music. Siva is the Hindu god of sex, death and rebirth, which is a common theme in Hinduism. The song itself seems to be about total chaos, hence the name of the song. It features the classic Smashing Pumpins melody of mellow-loud-mellow progression which was later featured in songs like Geek USA and XYU. The song seems to be about the stages of a relationship gone wrong, but there's a spiritual edge also. Nevertheless, an excellent song. Here it is:

lyrics:

I spin off and lose my head
Throwing stray a spark instead
Gather strenghth down in my heel
And dig it in the world I peel

Way down deep within my heart
Lies a soul that's torn apart
Tell me, tell me what your after
I just want to get there faster

I don't live - I inhale
I don't give - I unveil
Don't want to live in your misery
I don't live - I inhale

Sprinkle all my kisses on your head
Stars full of wishes fill our beds
She said, "I'm dead"

All this pain smothers me
Like a bomb that you can't see
Tell me, tell me what your after
I just want to get there faster

I don't live - I inhale
I don't give - I unveil
I don't live - I inhale
I don't live