10 Rare Smashing Pumpkins Songs You've Probably Never Heard

Featured On: Stand Inside Your Love – Single (B-Side)

There are three common versions of Speed Kills. The other two versions feature on Machina I and II respectively. Machina I (Vinyl and Japanese CD versions only) includes a shorter version of the track, cutting almost two minutes, with a fade out. Machina II’s variation is a heavier version of the song, closer to the harder moments on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Speed Kills, the B-Side version, opens with breathy vocals and warm drums in a serene build-up. The band join in with a distorted instrumental which sounds like a cross between Post-Punk and whale noise. The restrained instruments allow Corgan’s distinct vocals and lyrics to pack the punch.

Corgan seldom discusses his lyrics. However, with lyrics such as ‘crashing hard through days of pain, you were one of God's children, left to cry out in the rain, waiting to be saved again’, many fans theorised that the song’s subject was bassist D’arcy Wretzky and her struggles with addiction.