Billy Corgan has entered an auction to win Courtney Love’s handwritten lyrics to Violet, a Hole song that was long-supposed to be about him.
The Smashing Pumpkins mainman took to Instagram to announce that he has purchased three tickets, which is part of a fundraiser by the wildlife sanctuary Ellis Park, which is running until December 15. The charity, which is dedicated to caring for rescued animals in Sumatra was founded by Warren Ellis of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
“Hello friends. I have a very special announcement. Check this out. I just bought my ticket for the Ellis Park Wildlife Sanctuary auction for the lyrics for Violet written by Courtney Love,” he began in the video.
“Now, it’s made a lot of press this week that this auction’s going off so I’ve actually bought my ticket because I’d like to win these lyrics because I think it’s about a guy I know a little bit and I’d love to put that on my wall,” he said, before adding that he was “in it to win it.”
You might think this is a bit strange. It’s long been thought Violet, which originally appeared on Hole's 1994 Live Through This album, is actually about Corgan – the pair were in a relationship around the time the song was first written in the early 1990s. And Love has often been disparaging about Corgan in the past.
When Hole performed the song on Jools Holland’s show in 1995, Love told all and sundry that it was “a song about a jerk, I hexed him and now he’s losing his hair”.
Except it seems it’s not that simple. In a statement given to the NME last week, Love explained that “It’s not just about Billy Corgan, as many might assume; it’s about sitting on the fire escape of his flat, sipping cheap wine and taking a Vicodin (oh, to be young!) while the Chicago sun sets, leaving behind a bejewelled amethyst sky.”
“Sometimes I just channel whatever comes,” she said. “I realise my comment on Jools Holland was a bit mean – I was just being bitchy beefy. But someone has to uphold the standards of good faith beef!”
Anyway, Billy doesn’t seem to mind now and it’s all going to charity, isn’t it? The Pumpkins guitarist shared an Instagram story of the NME article about the song, and captioned it by saying: “She forgot to mention that I wrote one of the heart-rending couplets contained therein. But I will always love this song. Love you Court.”
