
Having premiered live at last year’s Bridge School Benefit, “A Song For A Son” in studio form debuts today on Spinner. Billy Corgan tells the site, “I think it’s got something to do about not having any kids and thinking about why I don’t have any kids.” It’s the first we’ve heard from the mercurial Pumpkin head‘s forthcoming 44-track Teargarden By Kaleidyscope. Jessica Simpson gives it three thumbs up.
UPDATE: The free MP3 is now available…
It’s the first track of the first of 11 limited-edition CD EPs, though all 44 songs will also be free “no strings attached.” Tracklist:
1 “A Song for a Son”
2 “Astral Planes”
3 “A Stitch in Time”
4 “Widow Wake My Mind”
Billy will tour behind Teargarden in the spring.
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Y’know, this chord progression sounds like something Elliott Smith would use Basement-era.
Of course, then the acoustic guitar and vocals come in and I am very heavily reminded that it’s not Elliott Smith.
It’s okay, though. Way better than their entire last record. That’s for sure.
I love stereogum and all, but the sarcastic nature of this with the Jessica Simpson reference kind of annoys me. This is a fantastic return to form for Billy, listen to the damn SONG and stop fueling the tabloid fire. Jeez.
For some reason Stereogum thinks its still funny to slam on Billy. They bitch about other people writing childish comments about others on here, and not paying attention to the music, yet they do shit like this to take the focus away from the music. This song is decent, yet they are basically telling people not to give it a chance before even hearing it. If they don’t like him and are sarcastic about everything he does, why even post anything?
Pretty sure it’s a Jessica Simpson joke, not a Billy Corgan joke. She’s an idiot.
If anyone’s taking attention away from Billy Corgan’s music, it’s Billy Corgan, with his wrestling commercials and puppet videos and whatnot.
Agree with Evan it’s an ok song especially compared to Billy’s recent stuff.
The “mercurial Pumpkin’s Head” joke, which leads to a video of real pumpkins in place of heads, is a joke against Corgan. I understand the other slam is on Simpson.
It’s a play on words.
Billy is head of the Pumpkins.
Pumpkin Head is popular Videogum meme.
/facepalm
What? Jessica actually like Mr. Corgan. Nuthin’ wrong with that. This guy played here in my small town of Visalia not long ago. He’s sort of an annoying rock star. He had to climb up a flight of stairs just so he could walk down them to make an entrance on stage.
Of course that has nothing to do with his music but I do back people talking smack on him though.
Does he ALWAYS have to take the vocals?
no…song from machina II — “GO” — sung by Iha
Something about Billy’s smug looking face just makes me want to punch him.
The new track is great! I’ve listened to it several times now and it feels massive. I’m looking forward to this journey of Teargarden by Kaleidyscope.
This is actually good? What the hell, make up your mind Billy.
Sorry you have such hatred in your heart Mr_Blue_Angel_Dood. The picture shown is from an interview with Billy in a record store earlier this year and he was really being quite pleasant and nice. Maybe he should get a head transplant since you don’t like the look of his face.
Colour me impressed. This is already better than the entirety of Zeitgeist.
Not a bad song. I don’t understand the hipster aversion to Billy Corgan.
Actually, the current hipster move is backlash-backlash. The backlash went mainstream when he railed against swine flu, and now we have to like him.
“This is a song for a sailor . . . the best I ever had.”
is the gayest line of the year. In a good way.
I agree with that being the gayest line of the year. Although I haven’t listened to the newish Sufjan album yet so I could be jumping the gun.
Good song but it sounds nothing like the Smashing Pumpkins I know. RE: Jessica Simpson, Billy.. hit it and quit it bro! You better not pull a Ryan-Adams on us! FOCUS! FOCUS!
hey everyone, stop blowing sp, you know you hated them (him?) as early as a few months ago
I’m quite enjoying this. Lyrics are eh, but the music is really nice, and I like the vocal melody. The guitar is cool, but it has almost an 80s hair-metal tone…I would have used a different guitar sound, but oh well.
In any case, as other have said, this is much better than all of Zeitgeist.
whatever happened to that tarot thing he was doing for halloween? did everyone forget about that? he was supposed to release a new song for every day in october or something, and i never saw anything.
This song is really, really good. That is all that need be said.
I know for a fact that Jessica Simpson blew Billy Corgan in a car outside of Beso in LA.
Well, if I had a friend with such a pure and enlightening outlook on faith, I’d suck his cock in a car outside of a club too.
What’s with Billy and the dumb broads, anyway? Jessica Simpson, Tila Tequila, Paris Hilton, and on and on and on back to Courtney Love. Is he even capable of hooking up with a somewhat respectable female?
Thanks for sharing.
If this song was released under ‘Radiohead’ or ‘Pearl Jam’, everyone on this board would be drooling over how great it is. Go back to listening to Animal Collective, the new hot band….that sucks!
I dunno, the reception here is surprisingly positive for this crowd. But then again it’s a great song. Go SP!
Has anyone ever drooled over Pearl Jam?
Animal Collective fucked your mom last night and she loved it.
Your Dad for one has drooled all over EdVed’s asshole as he was cleaning up the corn. And actually, I went Animal all over your Mom last night, and she Collected the $35 I left on her nightstand. She is one dirrrty bird.
Nah, nobody likes Pearl Jam on Stereogum. And Radiohead would never release anything that sounds like the Pumpkins.
wow. 28 comments down but I guess I’ll be the first… this song SUCKS
and I like animal collective, pearl jam, radiohead, 90′s pumpkins, and blow jobs from jessica simpson
Exactly my point…….. idiot.
Gotta say, this completely surpasses anything Billy has recorded in the last 6-7 years. Some of us who never took to trashing him cause it was the thing to do have been hoping he would step it up. Hopefully I’ll continue to be impressed.
It’s a great melody but…
Nothiin’s hipper than the DAR and the harpsichord!
Jessica must be the poor blown-out bird.
Really, he’s gone from zero to zorro (the gay blade) w/ these double entendres!
Billy has always had issues, and I’ve yet to hear a reason to worship his contribution to modern music.
The goofy get-ups and nightly hissy-fits of the last tour just frosted the cake of his weirdness.
Animal Collective comes in a close second at being tying to be whacky, but Ed and Thom are pure genuis. They are A-list. No Zwan or Zeitgeist missteps lurking in their shadows.!
Get a life1
cath
It’s a great melody but…
Nothiin’s hipper than the DAR and the harpsichord!
Jessica must be the poor blown-out bird.
Really, he’s gone from zero to zorro (the gay blade) w/ these double entendres!
Billy has always had issues, and I’ve yet to hear a reason to worship his contribution to modern music.
The goofy get-ups and nightly hissy-fits of the last tour just frosted the cake of his weirdness.
Animal Collective comes in a close second at being tying to be whacky, but Ed and Thom are pure genuis. They are A-list. No Zwan or Zeitgeist missteps lurking in their shadows.!
Get a life1
cath
Ed and Thom do the same thing over and over again……. It’s pretty boring. Ms. early 90s rock girl…They should make a bud light commercial about you. Here’s to you….. yeah never change….. YEAH……
The solo on the album version of “what goes on” on vu 3rd album…still…this song is good essentially…
Probably the best song he’s put out this decade.
This song definitely has a “Stairway To Heaven”, 70′s rock feel to it, but after first listen, it doesn’t really do much for me.
But like, we can’t buy the EP yet, right? I’m slightly confused… I think.
Although I think it’s admirable that Mr. Corgan is trying to release music in a new way and I don’t mind getting to listen to a new song once a month (or hopefully even more often), I have a few artistic problems with his new business strategy.
First, I think that releasing music in this way hurts the “album.” Artists today should be focused on making unified pieces of work. Instead, Billy’s strategy gives in to the all powerful throw-away single which can’t stand up to a well-crafted, organized, and self-edited album.
Second, by releasing 44 songs over who knows how long, there will be no self-editing by Billy. Consequently, while we might get to hear a few diamonds in the rough, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of throw away tracks that wouldn’t make the cut on an actual album.
Overall, I’d rather wait and listen to a well-organized and self-edited ALBUM that has a theme or well thought out structure which could amplify each individual song. Billy should select the 12 or 13 best songs from this new batch and create a unified piece of work in the form of a traditional album.
In the end, I think releasing singles over the internet is a great way to dispense with a back-catalogue or keep your fans engaged while you’re on a hiatus or busy in the studio working on a new album. A good example would be the recent demos and singles Ryan Adams has released on his site for a $1.00 a download. However, if all an artist does is release a single a month and then after a few years package the singles together I think the art suffers.
^
+1
I heard that they overdubbed like 40 tracks in order to create a veritable symphony orchestra of Jessica Simpson’s pussy farts on this song. Nice work.