Billy Corgan wants to own the lyrics to Courtney Love’s ‘Violet.’
“Hello friends, I have a very special announcement,” the Smashing Pumpkins singer started his words in a video message on Instagram. “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 went on, “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 about and I’d love to put that on my wall.”
“Anyway, support this if you want to, EllisPark.org. Ellis Park. org. You can enter the auction as well but you gotta buy a ticket. I got three tickets for 20 bucks. So, I’m in it to win it,” he concluded.
Love also talked about the recent auction of the handwritten lyrics for Hole’s song ‘Violet’ and said Corgan wasn’t the only person who inspired the song. Corgan replied on X by sharing a screenshot of a news headline quoting Love.
The vocalist wrote, “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.”
The lyrics of ‘Violet’ have often been rumored to be about Billy, as he and Love dated in the early 1990s. However, Love shared the song’s backstory with NME, explaining, “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.”
She continued, “Sometimes I just channel whatever comes. 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!”
Love co-wrote ‘Violet’ with Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson. The song’s lyrics first appeared on a flyer for one of the band’s early shows in Los Angeles in August 1991.
