Asculta azi Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings

Bullet with Butterfly Wings is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the lead single from the band's 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

The song won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.

This song was the band's first Top 40 U.S. hit, peaking at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also spent six weeks at number 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and peaked at number 4 on the Album Rock Tracks chart.

The song was named the 91st best hard rock song of all time by VH1.

The song was ranked number 70 on the list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" of Rolling Stone.

The song came second in the Triple J Hottest 100, 1995, it was also voted #33 in the Hottest 100 of All Time, 1998 and #51 on the Hottest 100 of All Time, 2009.

Billy Corgan, lead singer of the group, has stated that the line "but can you fake it/for just one more show" refers to the band's headlining slot on the 1994 Lollapalooza tour. This interpretation is also supported by the fact that the first fully played incarnations of the song occurred at a few Lollapalooza shows, as well as on demos recorded early that year. A very embryonic version was apparently recorded during the recording of Siamese Dream; according to Corgan, "somewhere, I have a tape of us from 1993 endlessly playing the 'world is a vampire' part over and over." It was not until 1995 that Corgan finished writing the "rat in a cage" chorus section of the song.

The music video for the song, directed by Samuel Bayer, is a performance video with heavy conceptual elements.

The visual look of the video was inspired by the work of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado on diamond mining, while, in contrast, the band used the video to debut their new glam rock wardrobes - notably, Billy Corgan's black shirt with the word "Zero" written in silver, and silver pants. The video also marks the last filmed appearance of Billy Corgan prior to his decision to shave his head.

The band advertised in the media that they were accepting extras for the video and got an overwhelming response and had almost 2000 extras for the video.

The lyrics:

The world is a vampire, sent to drain

Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames

And what do I get, for my pain?

Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game

Even though I know -- I suppose I'll show

All my cool and cold-like old job

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage

Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage

Now I'm naked, nothing but an animal

But can you fake it, for just one more show

And what do you want, I want to change

And what have you got

When you feel the same

Even though I know--I suppose I'll show

All my cool and cold--like old job

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage

Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage

Tell me I'm the only one

Tell me there's no other one

Jesus was an only son

Tell me I'm the chosen one

Jesus was an only son for you

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage

And I still believe that I cannot be saved