Rat in a cage smashing pumpkins

About

“Bullet with Butterfly Wings” won a GRAMMY in 1997 along with a slew of other awards. It remains one of Smashing Pumpkins highest charting and most recognizable songs, being used in countless movies and television shows.

The song acted as the lead single off the sprawling, mega-successful album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was not the band’s first pick as lead single however as “Jellybelly” was actually supposed to take the slot.

During a making-of featurette for the video, Billy jokingly stated that the song was chosen as a single based on the results of a “survey of K-Mart shoppers between 30 and 40”.

“Bullet” has been sampled numerous times by a variety of artists. Notable artist Kid Cudi heavily sampled the track’s chorus in his 2018 hit, “The Rage” The song has also been parodied by both Bob Rivers in “Minimum Wage" and Weird Al Yankovic in “The Alternative Polka”.

The song evolved through numerous permutations during the recording process. One of the earliest demo recordings can be viewed here.

Ask us a question about this song

Why is it called "Bullet With Butterfly Wings?"

Freud had this concept that each of us has a psychic bullet, that if it can be removed we can be psychically healed.

-Billy Corgan via Rock 103.5 Chicago

This may not fully answer the question, but it gives us some insight into the title as well as the lyrical content.

What does the music video represent?

The video for “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” was directed by Samuel Bayer, who also directed the iconic masterpiece, A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Although he’s directed music videos for many artists, including David Bowie and The Rolling Stones, he says that this Pumpkins video is what he’s the most proud of.

The theme of the video (and the song) is oppression. The people working in the mud are meant to give the viewer the idea of a forced labor camp. The images were inspired by the famous photographer, Sebastiao Salgado, who frequently showcases images of various people living in oppression throughout the world.

What have the artists said about the song?

Billy Corgan told Guitar World a little bit about the history of “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” in 1997:

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 an acoustic guitar at the BBC studios in London on the same day that “Landslide” was recorded.

Are there other versions or alternate takes of this track floating around?

What do the liner notes say about this song?

6. 6.

   Bullet with Butterfly Wings

Who wrote Bullet with Butterfly Wings?

When did Smashing Pumpkins Release Bullet with Butterfly Wings?

What show uses Bullet with Butterfly Wings?

Who played bass on butterfly with wings?