"A riff I'd toyed with on the last SP touring cycle but hadn't gotten far with; too busy I guess. But in the first round of demo-making I was able to turn the busy-body riff into a shoegazer wash which when laced with big, simpler guitars feels fatal." -BC, SP Nexus 2014-03-30

"A riff I'd come up with during the Oceania touring, but its shred-factor gets lost because it's too busy. Stripping away what wasn't essential about what sells in it, I locked a synth bass through a fuzz and ended on one drilling figure, and that broke down the guitar part until there was just a ghost left. Vroom! SP magik." -BC, 2014-04-11

"Demoed out what we'll call the slower version of ANAIS (sort of at the 'TODAY' tempo). That took an hour, and though we all felt the song was strong, no one was hi fiving either. 'I still like the riff from last night,' Howard said. By that he meant ANAIS, but the fast (or original) version. But previously I'd declared the songs rhythm 'moldy;' as in 1992 d.e.a.d. So my exposition here would be: 'hey, if we could find a new under groove, I'm more than happy to play the riff. 'Cause Lord knows the figures I write a'int changing.' I say this to you (as I said to them) because the man I learned the most from in the riff dept. was Tony Iommi, and as he has shown repeatedly is a good riff last forever; though the groove may change with the times. Hence a disco version of 'War Pigs,' etc, or the Ministry version of 'Supernaut.'" -BC, 2014-04-23

"(Yet [sic], it has an E now)" -BC, 2014-04-24

"After much hem-hawing, decided to trust my gut that some sort of modulation was necessary. Not just because the chorus is too high (it is, but so are others), but because when it shifts down the statement within seems to take on a elegiac stature (the elegy the point, it seems). So here's a little inside baseball: in SP world we call a chord by its assumed name even if the guitar is tuned to a different base key. I.E. should a guitar be tuned to the Mellon Collie key of E flat, we still call an E flat major chord an E. This makes the final result on ANAISE by progression: E minor, D minor, E minor, G major, D major, E minor, D minor, E minor, A minor; despite the guitar being down a half step. Either way you can see (if you play music) that the harmonic progression is quite unusual, and might explain why there's been so much head-scratching over it. At the end of the day, we listened and all agreed that it's pretty unique, both for SP history and as a composition, and in the best sense of the word it doesn't feel strange like good rock and roll should." -BC, 2014-05-01

Anaise! Anaise! In a captive's coat
In a word, a word, I can't let go
I need her so
You haunt me Anaise

In the finds, a sign, of lonely ones
And you're her, to gnash
What's done is done
It's simply known
Despite her hold out on me

Ooh, what must count as use for lovers?
Ooh, send this on the wings
Lovers let me hear from you as you all go under
Anaise
Love you, Anaise

Anaise! Anaise! What's thread as blown
By your times, blackhearts, and lace built own
An armies woe
Oh now don't you, Anaise

Ooh, what should count as doom for lovers?
Ooh, send this by her wing
Lovers let me hear from you as you go asunder
Ooh, send this by the wing

If I could raise her?
Suppose I'd dare?
Just to brace against her will
Imagine reeling
From twilight to scare
All to stand within the grace

Ooh, what becomes of use as lovers
Ooh, send this by the wing
Lovers let us hear from you as you all go under
Anaise
Love you, Anaise
Love you, Anaise

Monuments to an Elegy   (buy )

22770002

Billy Corgan

Song discussed on the official SP site in spring 2014, released on Monuments to an Elegy in Dec. 2014.