Members of the American rock band The Smashing Pumpkins started recording the album Siamese Dream in a far from good mood. Someone struggled with drug addiction, someone experienced a breakup, and Billy Corgan fell into depression for several months and seriously considered suicide due to constant comparisons with Nirvana and a creative crisis. The gloomy mood that did not leave him at that time, he conveyed in the composition Today (“Today”).
History of creation and meaning
It was this song that Billy wrote for the first time on the Siamese Dream record, which Rolling Stone magazine ranked at number 360 in the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
He described one of his days, filled with suicidal thoughts. Here’s what he later said about Today:
I really was suicidal. I just thought it would be funny to write a song that says today is the greatest day of your life, so it couldn’t get any worse.
Rolling Stone 1993
When the words and music of Today were ready, Billy realized that it lacked a spectacular introduction. According to him, the guitar riff with which the song begins was born on his own:
Quite unexpectedly, note after note, the opening melody sounded in my head. When I added the opening riff, it completely changed the mood of the song. All of a sudden, I had a song that started quietly and then got really loud.
Guitar World 1995
Release and achievements
Billy Cogan initially did not have a high opinion of the song. The band’s manager, producers from Virgin Records and colleagues from The Smashing Pumpkins convinced him that Today was a real hit, but he refused to release it as the main single, preferring Cherub Rock.
Today was released as the second single from Siamese Dream in September 1993. She was very actively played on music radio stations and the MTV channel, which provided the group with many new fans.
Music video
In the video clip of Today – The Smashin Pumpkins, Corgan appears as an ice cream seller who, having quit his job, goes to travel along a deserted road. Billy said that this image was inspired by his childhood memories of the same merchant. He, leaving the work that bored him, distributed the rest of the goods to the neighboring children.
The director of the video, Stefan Sednaoui, claimed that Michelangelo Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point was his source of inspiration.
Today Lyrics
Today is the greatest
Day I’ve ever known
Can’t live for tomorrow
Tomorrow’s much too long
I’ll burn my eyes out
Before I get out
I wanted more
Than life could ever grant me
Bored by the chore
Of saving face
Today is the greatest
Day I’ve ever known
Can’t wait for tomorrow
I might not have that long
I’ll tear my heart out
Before I get out
Pink ribbon scars
That never forget
I tried so hard
To cleanse these regrets
my angel wings
Were bruised and restrained
My belly stings
Today is
Today is
Today is
The greatest day
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you
Today is the greatest
Today is the greatest day
Today is the greatest day
That I have ever really known
Today Lyrics
Today is the greatest
The day I have known
I can’t live for tomorrow
Tomorrow is too long
I’ll burn my eyes out
Before I leave
I wanted more
Than life could ever give me
I’m tired of constantly trying
Don’t lose dignity
Today is the greatest
The day I have known
I can’t live for tomorrow
Maybe I don’t have that much time
I will rip out my heart
Before I leave
Pink ribbons of scars
That are never forgotten
I tried my best
Get rid of remorse
My angel wings
Were broken and harnessed
And my stomach is on fire
Today,
Today,
Today
The Greatest Day
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you on
I want to start
Today is the greatest
Today is the greatest day
Today is the greatest day
that I really ever knew
Quote about the song Today
has achieved the eminent status of one of the defining songs of its generation, brilliantly capturing the fractured aloofness of American youth in the 1990s.
Blender
