Billy Corgan Enters Auction to Win Ex Courtney Love’s Handwritten ‘Violet’ Lyrics Inspired by Their Relationship
Billy Corgan inspired ex-girlfriend Courtney Love’s lyrics for Hole’s single “Violet” — and how he wants a hard copy.
After Ellis Park Wildlife Sanctuary revealed Love’s handwritten words to “Violet” are available in its ongoing auction, the Smashing Pumpkins co-founder, 57, announced he bought a ticket to win the song lyrics — and joked they’re “about a guy I know a little bit.”
“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,” said Corgan in an Instagram video on Nov. 17. “I think it’s about a guy I know a little bit, and I’d love to put that on my wall.”
Showing off his ticket, the “1979” artist added, “Anyway, support this if you want to, Ellispark.org, and you can enter the auction as well, but you gotta buy a ticket. I got three tickets for 20 bucks. So, I am in it to win it.”
Over the video, Corgan showed off a photo of Love’s handwritten “Violet” lyrics as well as a recent statement to NME looking back on its inception.
“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 bejeweled amethyst sky,” she told the outlet earlier this month.
Corgan also wrote in text displayed onscreen, “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 pair dated in the early 1990s, before Love got into a relationship with Kurt Cobain and married the late Nirvana rocker in 1992. “Violet” was released on Hole’s 1994 Live Through This album and later became its third single. Corgan and Love briefly reunited in the mid-2000s.
In August, Corgan exclusively told PEOPLE he’s expecting his third baby with wife Chloé Mendel Corgan, with whom he shares kids Philomena, 5½, and Augustus, 8½.
“While Augustus was overjoyed, Clementine, the younger of the two, asked if the baby was made already and shed a few tears of concern, which was honestly adorable,” he told PEOPLE at the time.
“Now, both kids are beaming, and it makes it so much fun to share the joy of bringing more love into our family,” added Corgan. “We are truly blessed.”