The Aeroplane Flies High

         
  Below, all the songs from The Aeroplane Flies High box set
    have been described by Billy and James.

 *****This was taken from an interveiw with Billy and James by Guitar World Magazine******

"The Aeroplane Flies High(turns left, looks right)"

Billy: A brief snippet of this tune, which was originally entitled "Dissconnected", is found in the
"Pastichio Medley". This is a Mellon Collie riff that I could never seem to find a change for.
[Producer] Flood didn't like this one much ("too heavy metal" - a common complaint), and I never
finished it until right before it was recorded. Essentially a new song with an old riff, with spoken word
bits courtesy of my friends. The solo, funnily enough, was quickly thrown down because I had to do
a funeral. It was supposed to be a reference for where to pick up when I came back. But when I
returned, I was surprised by how much I liked it.

"Believe"

James Iha: This was another song recorded the day after the music for the album was done. It's
supposed to be an uplifting song, but it has this undercurrent of longing, depression, sadness,
etc....The opening guitar was played on a Gibson J-100XTRA, which has got this great, wide-open
sound, and there's a clean electric guitar doubling it but mixed way back to give a chorusing
"sparkle". There are also two bass guitar tracks on most of the song, played on a weird Epiphone
bass that I bought for a hundred dollars at a pawn shop, and which also got used a lot on Siamese
Dream. On the track, one plays chords high up and the other just plays the root notes to give it some
weight.

"The Bells"

James Iha: I wrote "The Bells" two or three years ago, and each instrument was seemingly
recorded about six or seven months apart-not really on purpose, but just as a demo that kept
growing. I recorded the acoustic guitars at my old apartment, and then , after I moved, I recorded
Eric Remschneider's cello part in my basement. Then, for this single, I had another friend, Adam
Schlesinger (of Fountains of Wayne and Ivy), play piano, and then D'arcy and I did the vocals. I like
this song because it is very simple but has a twist in the time signatures-sort of in the Nick Drake
style.

"Blank"

Billy: A home demo recorded in my bedroom the day it was written, this one was never supposed
to come out. I never really liked it much, but a lot of my friends said it was one of their favorite
songs. At the last minute it replaced a song called "Towers of Rabble," because I think I liked that
one even less.

"The Boy"

James Iha: This is a New Wave song that has the power-pop Jazzmaster sound. I have this
late-Sixties Jazzmaster with a warped neck that looks cool but isn't really good to play. There's also
this funny guitar-drum break in the middle of the song where I hang a chord and use the whammy
bar. Flood likes this song but it just doesn't fit the album.

"Bullet with Butterfly Wings"

Billy: Believe it or not, the original riff from this song came to me during one of the Siamese Dream
recording sessions. Somewhere, I have a tape of us from 1993 endlessly playing the "world is a
vampire" part over and over. But it wasn't until a year and a half later that I finished the song,
writing the "rat in the cage" part on acoustic guitar at the BBC studios in London on the same day
that "Landslide" was recorded.

"Cherry"

Billy: Of all the b-sides, this song is probably my biggest regret. I never spent as much time on it as
it probably deserved, with this version showing very little improvement from the demo. This one
probably should have made the album. I love its feeling and atmosphere, the warbly guitar courtesy
of an effect that changes oscillation in ratio to signal input (the harder you hit it, the faster it goes).
The basic tracks were recorded during the Mellon Collie sessions.

"Clones (We're All)"

Billy: A fairly obscure Alice Cooper song from his early-Eighties New Waver period. It was
rehearsed and recorded in about an hour. I first heard this song when a Chicago band called Radio
Fashion used to play it in the late Eighties.

"Destination Unknown"

Billy: A great nihilistic song; this is the Missing Persons' lament of nothingness. I love the lyrics to
this song. The first-grade techno vibe envolved out of boredom with some of the rockand roll-y
things that we'd been working on.

"Dreaming"

Billy: This is a cover of the Blondie classic from the the late Seventies, with D'arcy handling most of
the vocals. We decided to do this with a breezy hippity-hop vibe, with a little Joy Division thrown in
for good measure. Interestingly enough, this song was plagued with all sorts of technical problems
that made mixing it a technical nightmare--vocals with electrical noises, drum loops with scratch
guitars recorded over them, etc.

"God"

Billy: Forever slated as a Mellon Collie song-to-be, "God" just couldn't cut it in the end. The beat
was probably a little too close to "Bullet", but it still rocks hard. It was tracked during the Mellon
Collie sessions, with overdubs and vocals added much later.

"Jupiter's Lament"

Billy: This song was supposed to be the Mellon Collie gospel song, and a rough version even exists
with all the band members singing. This version is my home demo, cut on the same morning as
"Stumbleine."

"The Last Song"

Billy: This is the only b-side written entirely after Mellon Collie was completed; I always seem to
write a little burst of songs in the moment of finishing an album . I thought for a while
about holding this song for our next record, but in the end I decided it was so in the spirit of Mellon
Collie that it was best served as an extra track. I never intended it to have a guitar solo, but my
father was hanging out with me at the studio, so I asked him to play on it. Every time I hear this song,
I burst with pride to hear my father's great, and very influential to me, guitar playing.

"Marquis in Spades"

Billy: The band never really like the song. They were always snickering at it, but I always liked its
sheer brutality. It was recorded live on my 8-track cassette recorded, on which I've done almost all
my demos since before Gish.

"Medellia of the Gray Skies"

Billy: Originally titled "E.P.," this song was breifly considered for Mellon Collie as a companion
piece to "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans." I could never seem to finish the lyrics until right before it
was recorded, live with my pals from The Frogs. This song came out much more beautiful than I ever
dreamed possible, teaching me yet another lesson in spontaneity.

"Meladori Magpie"

Billy: Another believe it or not, this left-over from Siamese Dream was written in the last-minute
crush. Butch Vig never thought much of it, but it is one of my secret favorites. A simple song of
innocence that has a double-tracked, finger picked acoustic and drum machine, and was recorded at
home.

"Mouths of Babes"

Billy: During the year and a half of Siamese Dream touring, we tried to work on on all sorts of new
songs. From all the endless jams and tapes, this song and "Marquis in Spades" were the only ones
that survived. A favorite at soundcheck with non-lyrics forever. Another heavy metal victim, or at
least too much like a Siamese Dream track.

"My Blue Heaven"

Billy: I've wanted to cover this song for five years, but found it impossible to learn, as I can't seem
to learn anyone else's songs. Written in 1927, this song is a well-known standard. I thought about
doing this more futuristically, but in the end opted to let it be beautiful in its simplicity.

"A Night Like This"

James Iha: This is one of my favorite Cure songs, but in doing a cover we always try to change
something about it. I decided to make it a slow, acoustic dirge with different drum feels for each part
instead of a straight beat through the whole song. There's also a cello, which gives it a gothic feel. At
the end it sorta rocks out with some Big Muff and Neil Young & Crazy Horse kind of rhythm
guitars.

"1979"

Billy: The most frequently asked question about "1979" is, "What is the 'ooh-ahh-ahh' sounds at the
end of every phrase?" Flood and I were tracking the song, and I started humming the "oohs" like a
melody line. I sang them to tape, we sampled the pertinent ones, electronically manipulated them,
and looped them against the drum beat. One of my favorite songs from the album.

"Pastichio Medley"

Billy: This is our growingly infamous riff collection of practically, but not almost, every idea that was
attempted for Mellon Collie that didn't even make B-side status. I sorted through hundreds of hours
of rehearsal and album tapes, and kind of randomly ran small bits together to create a pastiche of
madness. The original titles were all used.

"Pennies"

Billy: One of those songs that I write in 10 minutes and can't seem to shake it off. I like this song a
lot, and find myself humming it about the house, as it is a very rare example of actual Pumpkin humor
in a song. Recorded live to the 8-track cassette, with a few acoustic 12-string overdubs just to give
it a little zing. This was our second choice for a take; the better take was lost when the engineer
forgot to press "record".

"Rotten Apples"

Billy: A home demo that I just didn't have the heart or energy to go back and record. I like the
lyrics a lot, and if I had spent more time on it it probably should have been on the album. It was
written in the initial post Lollapalooza batch ("33," "Jupiter's Lament," "Methusela," "Ugly") of
acoustically tinged songs. It has double-tracked, fingerpicked guitar-all the better to hide those little
mistakes-with a few choice keyboard overdubs bleeding through the vocal mikes.

"Said Sadly"

James Iha: A fun song to write and record. It's sort of my version of a country duet song. I
recorded this the day after we finished the music for the album, and had a friend of mine, Nina
Gordon (of Veruca Salt) sing with me because she's got great tone and character in her voice. The
guitar fills and slide guitar are in the style of Derek & the Dominoes, Clarence White, the Byrds and
the Allman Brothers. We did one track of guitar fills with a Les Paul through an MXR phaser with a
clean sound, as well as another track of Les Paul slide guitar which gives the song kind of a romantic
sound, most of which was done in one or two takes.

"Set the Ray to Jerry"

Billy: Another remant of a distant Siamese Dream past, "Set the Ray to Jerry" was first written
somewhere during the Gish tour. It's always been a band favorite, and seemingly only the band's,
because no one ever mentions it. A sweet, simple song featuring only bass, drums, and some
delayed James guitar. One night Flood and I put everything we had on a couple of tapes (about 40
songs) and just drove around Chicago until 3:30 in the morning deciding what was on or off the
album. When we listened to "Set the Ray", it really moved me, but when I looked over to Flood he
just shook his head no. That was the end of "Set the Ray" on the album, because I trust Flood's
opinion so much.

"Thirty-three"

Billy: A simple song in country tuning, "Thirty-Three" was the first song that I wrote when I came
home from all the Siamese Dream touring. I took three days off, and this was literally the first thing
that came out of my hands when I sat down. I was living in my new house for the first time, and this
conveys all of that. The "cha-cha-cha" sounds is my drum machine through a flanger, and what you
hear is the same line right off the demo because I couldn't remember how to recreate it. the stringy
sounds are part Vocoder, plus five slide guitars tuned to one note each to creature the chords.

"Tonight, Tonight"

Billy: When we were still in the middle of Siamese Dream touring, I booked us into a local Chicago
studio to just put all of our ideas down to tape, without censorship of opinions, etc. "Tonight" was
one of those ideas, but it was originally in the key of C instead of G. The only problem was I couldn't
sing it in C, so I figured out the version on Mellon Collie to suit my limited range. I never thought
"Tonight, Tonight" would be a single. I just didn't think people would get it. Also, I have to say that
recording the 30 piece string section was probably one of the most exciting recording experiences I
have ever had.

"Tonite Reprise"

Billy: Originally slated to go on towards the end of the Mellon Collie album, this one was hacked off
in the name of "When is enough too much?" I had just come back from the Chicago Bulls' tragic loss
to the Orlando Magic in the playoffs, and was very depressed. My voice was hoarse from so much
shouting. Flood threw up his famouse mikes, and I just did it live. I used my trusty Gibson acoustic,
with the rusty strings.

"Transformer"

Billy: Flood thought that "Transformer" was almost like a novelty song. But I always liked that crazy
go-go beat. Recorded in Sydney, Australia, and Chicago, this song has about nine rhythm guitars, all
playing the same three notes. Also, many of the guitars were sampled out and destroyed going back
in.

"Tibute to Johnny"

Billy: Our tribute to Johnny Winter, circa 1974; a true original, and one of my favorite guitarists.

"Ugly"

Billy: Slated as an album song until the very last moment, when Mellon Collie was cut from 31 to 28
songs, this is an interesting interpretation of what had essentially been an acoustic song. Flood and I
tried about four different versions before settling on this one. One
version that I liked was just me and a distorted guitar. But in the end, this version won, only to be
mixed into eternal obscurity as a B-side.

"You're All I've Got Tonight"

Billy: A really great Cars song, stripped of every thing but the most basic riff to emphasize the heavy
double-tracked drumming. Also, we added a Bay City Rollers-style stomp, with me and about 8 of
my friends stomping along with the third verse nicely out of time.

"Zero"

Billy: We like to call this style of our music "cyber-metal." "Zero" has six rythm guitars, with two
line-in 12-string acoustics, plus those wacky Iha leads. Tracked live with overdubs added later, this
is a true mover as well as the first song that was recorded for Mellon Collie. James has always said
this reminds him of Judas Priest.