“Stand Inside Your Love”, which Billy Corgan once called his only true love song, was The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest international hit to chart high on both sides of the Atlantic. Shortly after its release, the band broke up, and after the reunion of the band in 2006, he failed to make a vivid impression on music lovers and critics.
Billy – in his usual confused manner – repeatedly told how he composed and to whom he dedicated “Stand Inside Your Love”. Below are excerpts from two interviews with the author, which talk about the history of the track:
Every once in a while a song comes along and it comes so fast you hardly even remember how it happened. And you feel almost guilty because you almost feel like the song doesn’t belong to you. Of course, there is also your merit, but in this song, “Stand Inside Your Love”, I first wrote the music, and the song was a little different, like a new wave. And when the band first got together to record Machina, I kind of pitched my idea to them and we tried to play it in a new wave style, but it didn’t work.
All of a sudden it kind of mutated into what I was calling a “classic Smashing Pumpkins”. I mean, it sounds like it could be from any album, and we immediately did the arrangement from start to finish. So the song you hear on the album is essentially the same musical arrangement, but I didn’t really have a melody and I didn’t have any lyrics at all. That day, I went home thinking, “I really need to try to write some words for this song because I really like it.”
The next morning I woke up and read a book, and for the song I only had the line “who wouldn’t stand inside your love”, which at that time I could not even really say what it meant. And this is an extremely strange feeling, because suddenly a valve opened in my head, and I was suddenly able to explain the whole song – I understood it all.
So the lyrics were – and I’m not kidding when I say this – written in literally ten minutes. I have a sheet of paper on which I have written words, and none of them are different, none have ever changed – and it all came out of this stream of consciousness. Speaking of what this song is about, it’s probably the only love song I ever wrote. I dedicate it to my friend and girlfriend Elena.
Storytellers Channel VH1
“Stand Inside Your Love” is one of those rare songs that seems to write really fast on its own… As far as I can tell, it’s kind of a rousing rock love song, which is pretty rare, even for me. And I even invited my girlfriend to dance in the video, so I guess this is all a dedication to my girlfriend.
MTV Online
The composition became one of the tracks of the disc “Machina/The Machines of God”. It was conceived as a concept album with a single storyline and the main character, nicknamed Glass, but the idea was not fully realized.
“Stand Inside Your Love” was released as a commercial single in January 2000. It hit the Billboard Hot 100, the UK Singles Chart and the charts in other countries.
The original music video was filmed for the song, which Corgan worked on with British director WIZ. They were inspired by Aubrey Beardsley’s famous illustrations for Oscar Wilde’s Salome. The video was awarded the VH1 Fashion Awards in the Most Visionary Video nomination.
Interesting Facts
- Corgan’s girlfriend, Ukrainian-American Elena Yemchuk, starred in the music video for “Stand Inside Your Love.”
- The cover of the single was created by the artist Vasily Kafanov. He depicted a two-headed hermaphrodite, which in alchemy is a symbol of the unity of the feminine and masculine. On the creature you can see the crown of Kether from the Kabbalah.
- The fat man from the clip is actor Ken Davityan, known for his role as Azamat Bagatov from the movie Borat.
- In the video, James Iha plays an old guitar with a bow, which may be a reference to the work of Jimmy Page, who sometimes resorted to this technique.
Lyrics stand inside your love by The Smashing Pumpkins
You and me
Meant to be
Immutable
Impossible
It’s destiny
pure lunacy
incalculable
Inseparable for you and me
meant to be
unchanged,
Impossible
This is destiny
Pure Madness
unpredictable
Inseparable And for the last time
You’re everything that I want and asked for
You’re all that I dream
Who wouldn’t be the one you love
Who wouldn’t stand inside your love
Protected and the lover of for the last time
You are everything I want and everything I asked for
You are everything I dream of
Who wouldn’t want to be the one you love
Who wouldn’t want to be inside your love
Protected and loved A pure soul
and beautiful
You
Don’t understand
Don’t fear me now
I will breath
For the both of us
Travel the world
Traverse the skies
Your home is here
Within my heart
And beautiful
You
Do not understand
Do not be afraid of me
I will breathe
For the two of us
Traveling the world
Ride the skies
Your home is here
Inside my heart and for the first time
I feel as though I am reborn in my mind
Recast as child and mystic sage
Who wouldn’t be the one you love
Who wouldn’t stand inside your love
I feel like my mind has been reborn
As if a child and a mystical sage are reunited in me
Who wouldn’t want to be the one you love
Who wouldn’t want to be inside your love, for the first time
I’m telling how much I need and bleed for
Your every move and waking sound in my time
I’ll wrap my wire around your heart
And your mind
You’re mine forever now
Who wouldn’t be the one you love and live for
Who wouldn’t stand inside your love and die for
Who wouldn’t be the one you love
I say how much I need and yearn
For your every move and awakening sound
I will wire your heart
And your mind
You are mine forever
Who wouldn’t want to be the one you love and live for
Who wouldn’t want to be inside your love and die for it
Who wouldn’t want to be the one you love
Song quote
[Corgan] seems re-energized as a writer and singer as he writes songs like “Stand Inside Your Love” and “Try Try Try” which are among their best work to date.
Clark Collis, The Daily Telegraph
