The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
“Glass and the Ghost Children” formally introduces Glass, the protagonist of Machina. The Ghost Children are his fanbase of which he struggles to communicate directly with.
Glass himself is an exaggerated version of Billy Corgan. Corgan was aware yet uneasy regarding the notion some fans had of h...
[Verse 1]
To the center of the earth
Or anywhere God decides
Full of fever pulling forth
We hear our call as all
To the center of the earth
As if written in
DNA is reaching out
To your frequency
[Chorus 1]
I want to live
Don’t want to die
I want to live
I want to try
All in prayer
Prayer in all
All are scared
Scared of all
[Verse 2]
Black rooms are calling
To men in leather coats
White labs are cooking
Up the silver ghost
The glass migrates under
Her translucent skin
And all the spiders wonder
What we’ve got us in
[Chorus 2]
All is you
You are all
All with you
You in all
I want to live
I don’t want to die
I want to live
I want to try
[Phone Call/Interlude]
“So it’s all very obtuse, because it’s all, like, I don’t know. So, like, I started thinking that everything I operate on is based on what I believe God was telling me to do. God could be my intuition or whatever, but I always assume, I always assume that the voice I hear is the voice of God. Then I started thinking, what if I’m insane? So I’m operating on the premise that I’m hearing the voice of God or what I perceive to be God speaking to me or through me, but maybe I’m completely in… so all my… demagoguery in my life about me thinking that my life has importance, my… my… thinking that my life has importance. My… my… my thought of it and the fact that I believe I’m following my intuition which in and of itself may be completely false so then I started freaking out, thinking–of itself may be completely false. And again this totally insane creature that believes he’s acting upon heavenly intuition but meanwhile he’s totally rampant. And I started thinking maybe this is the cause of all the negativity against–and I started thinking maybe this is the cause of all the negativity against–and I started thinking maybe this is the cause of all the negativity against…”
[Bridge]
So meets the final coda of a vinyl storm
One more cherry cola to lift up her dead arms
A dream of soft focus, sunsets filters through the dim
We are losing contact as she dials it in
She can hear Glass calling
Or is it someone that looks like him?
She eyes TV reflection, and nods a knowing look
She says it doesn’t matter, she never liked her looks
I have seen a thousand fractures
I have seen everything
‘Cause knowing is its own answer, love something in a book
There’s not much left to ponder, not much left to cook
[Outro]
As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders, as they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders, as...
Glass and the Ghost Children was written by Billy Corgan.
Glass and the Ghost Children was produced by Billy Corgan & Flood.
The Smashing Pumpkins released Glass and the Ghost Children on Tue Feb 29 2000.
Billy Corgan via VH1 Storytellers:
The lead character is named Glass. The Ghost Children would be some combination of the audience. The idea is that Glass speaks for, to, and about himself and to the people he’s trying to speak to, which would be [the audience]. It’s half about what its like to...