Porcelina of the Vast Oceans Lyrics

[Instrumental Intro]

[Verse 1]
As far as you take me, that's where I believe
The realm of soft delusions, floatin' on the leaves
On a distant shoreline she waves her arms to me
As all the thought police are closin' in for sleep
The dilly dally of my bright-lit stay
The steam of my misfortunes has given me the power to be afraid


[Pre-Chorus 1]
And in my mind I'm everyone
And in my mind

[Chorus]
Without a care in this whole world
Without a care in this whole world
Without a care in this life
It's what you take that makes it right


[Post-Chorus]
Porcelina of the oceans blue (Porcelina)
Porcelina, Porcelina

[Verse 2]
In the slipstream of thoughtless thoughts
The light of all that's good, the light of all that's true
To the fringes gladly I walk unadorned
With gods and their creations, with filth and disease
Porcelina, she waits for me there
With seashell hissing lullabyes and whispers fathomed deep inside my own
[Pre-Chorus 2]
Hidden thoughts and alibis
My secret thoughts come alive


[Chorus]
Without a care in this whole world
Without a care in this whole world
Without a care in this life
It's what you take that makes it right

[Bridge]
And in my mind I'm everyone
And in my mind I'm everyone
In my mind I'm every one of you
You make it right
It's all alright
You make it right

[Post-Chorus]
Porcelina of the oceans blue (Porcelina)
Porcelina of the oceans blue (Porcelina)

[Instrumental Outro]

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

The elusive lover, Porcelina, beckons the subject to the edge of belief and beyond. His belief system changes as he gives into Porcelina and gazes past “The realm of soft delusions.”

Ordinarily we put up mental blocks as a defense mechanism in order to stay within the fragile framework that supports our belief system. Corgan refers to this defense mechanism as “the thought police” in these lyrics and suggests that the power of Porcelina is causing them to shut down.

Porcelina is now free to take the narrator as far as she wishes, past his preconceived notions and into a deeper realm of thought.

Many have been inspired by this particular song. This is one of many pieces of fan art dedicated to "Porcelina"

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did The Smashing Pumpkins say about "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans"?
Genius Answer

On our first two albums we’d grown accustomed to the benefit of playing many of the songs live long before they’d been crystallized on tape. Once stuck in the glut of so many ideas, I suggested we consider playing a few hometown shows to hammer out some kinks, as well as force the dubious pretenders among us out into the light.

This made plenty of sense to everyone save for the fact that very few of the 50 plus songs we were working on at any given time had any true lyrics by which I might sing a show. Only 72 hours before the first of 4 planned such dates I found myself with about 400 lines to fill and very little idea of what I might want to say if indeed I wanted to say anything at all. I raced my way through various spiraled notebooks, compiling a sort of master syllabus of lines and fragmented poems that I’d jotted down along my travails.

What came out in haste was a sort of running screed, where common ideas spilled over one another until I wasn’t sure what any of the songs were really about. I ended keeping most of what I’d scrawled out in that moment of compression and pressure, and you can see that most clearly in a song like Porcelina, where vague allusions to mythic tides and sinking ships seemed only to enhance the unconscious feelings within. Carl Jung would be proud!

As much as I want every line of every song to be perfect, there is something perfect about not fussing over anything too much; letting synchronicity be a teacher and guide to the stars.

-Billy Corgan, 2012 Reissue Liner Notes

Comments