Hummer Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Faith lies in
The ways of sin
I chased the charmed
But I don't want them anymore
[Pre-Chorus]
And in their eyes, I was alive—a fool's disguise
Take me away from you
[Verse 2]
And shame my tongue
Fat with promise all along
When I woke up from that sleep
I was happier than I’d ever been
[Chorus]
When you decide
That your life is a prize
Renew and revive
It's alright, honey, it's alright, yeah
[Bridge 1]
Happiness will make you wonder
Will I feel okay?
It scares the disenchanted, far
Away
[Bridge 2]
Yeah, I want something new
But what am I supposed to do
About you?
Yeah, I love you
It's true
[Bridge 3]
Life's a bummer
When you're a hummer
Life's a drag, yeah, yeah
[Outro]
Ask yourself a question
Anyone but me, I ain't free
Ask yourself a question
Anyone but me, I ain't free
Do you feel
Love is real?
[Guitar Solo]
About
One of the things that have defined the Smashing Pumpkins from the start was the way many of their songs will dynamically change from verse to verse, ending up almost like harmonious collages of many different ideas. Speaking to the Orlando Sentinel Tribune in 1992, guitarist James Iha detailed how they get there:
[The songs] mutate in 50,000 different directions. When we did the first album, songs would change over a few days, or change over months, but generally they always come out sounding very different when we’re through with them. We tend to play a song into the ground and just see what happens, make little changes here or there or scrap the whole song and keep one part.
“Hummer” is probably the most glaring example of this approach from Siamese Dream: aside from the first and third stanzas, no vocal melody or chord sequence is ever repeated in the verses; instead, the song moves from hook to hook, seamlessly navigating between distorted and quiet moments.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
The first time we played this song at rehearsal, I got a skull crushing headache from playing the opening figure for thirty minutes straight. But we couldn’t stop; that same entranced, menacing eastern yadda-yadda over and again; a hum de plume in honor of major keyed faith; all those Catholic dreams that one has inverted growing up in those bleak post-industrial burbs.
It’s a beautiful song, that in its totality lends a message that is hard to convey, but bigger than its original intention. To be yourself, you must live your life. To live your life, you must be free.
- 1.Cherub Rock
- 2.Quiet
- 3.Today
- 4.Hummer
- 5.Rocket
- 6.Disarm
- 7.Soma
- 8.Geek U.S.A.
- 9.Mayonaise
- 10.Spaceboy
- 11.Silverfuck
- 12.Sweet Sweet
- 13.Luna