The Smashing Pumpkins! That’s it. All you need to know to just listen. As they are now on your celebrating the thirty year anniversary of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, one of the songs they have brought back is a personal favorite in “Here Is No Why.” The song between “Zero” and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” has always been one of those songs that’s stood out not just for the more delicate nature but, more so in the way the soaring vocals hit in a dreamy and impactful manner. Add in the guitar solo too, which adds another stratospheric level.

The demo for the song is one of those that has a bit of a different shape. This “Pumpkinland Demo,” is a more “rock” version than the album version. The title has some interesting nomenclature. In the notes for the 2012 reissue of Mellon Collie, Billy Corgan mentioned that the “title was appropriated from an article I’d read on an anniversary of the world’s first nuclear attacks. A survivor, in surveying a legacy of near-total devastation, had remarked in broken English that ‘Here is no why.'” The impact of the title then the lyrics themselves and Billy’s voice, makes this another one of the great songs Billy Corgan has written.

Thank you for bringing this song back into the setlist for these shows. It had not been played since 1997 and in all the years I’ve been seeing The Smashing Pumpkins live, this has been a unicorn song for me!

Here Is No Why (Pumpkinland Demo/1994):

Here Is No Why (Live/1996):