The Smashing Pumpkins – Perfect

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Send "Perfect" Ringtone to Cell

I know we're just like old friends
we just can't pretend
that lovers make amends
we are reasons so unreal
we can't help but feel that something has been lost

but please you know you're just like me
next time I promise we'll be
perfect
perfect
perfect strangers down the line
lovers out of time
memories unwind

so far I still know who you are
but now I wonder who I was...

angel, you know it's not the end
we'll always be good friends
the letters have been sent on

so please, you always were so free
you'll see, I promise we'll be
perfect
perfect strangers when we meet
strangers on the street
lovers while we sleep

perfect
you know this has to be
we always we're so free
we promised that we'd be
perfect

Send "Perfect" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by Ice

Track duration: 03:24


Perfect song meanings
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  • 0
    Memory:Back in my.. sophmore year of high school i believe? my first real relationship with someone i REALLY admired. i listened to this song every morning of that relationship. it really made me think of us, although im not sure why. 3 years and 3 relationships later (the second was with the same girl i mentioned above..) the line:
    "But now I wonder who I was..."
    really makes me think; i've changed so much within this short time, who was this boy these girls loved, if even for a short while? somedays, i just sit and think, 'I Wonder who i was?'
    Flag sevinteenon January 25, 2013   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:Does this good band sing The Chicken Song, too? LOL :D
    Flag IllToast2Thaton December 28, 2012   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation:Someone may have mentioned this already, but this part:

    perfect strangers when we meet
    strangers on the street
    lovers while we sleep

    just depicts perfectly how one acts when they see an ex. You pretend like nothing ever occurred between you two, you are polite (maybe) to each other, its somewhat of an act, because, no matter how long it has been, you are lovers while you sleep, because you don't have much control over your dreams. You dream about that person from time to time, and the intense feelings that were felt in the relationship are still there if only in dreams.

    This also could explain the lovers out of time line, because if you dream about the lover, its like there has been no time that has passed. The restrictions of time and space have little do do with one's unconscious and/or subconscious mind when the heart/emotion is involved.
    Flag Buffy512on May 22, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Billy has said that "Perfect" is a sequel to "1979". If "1979" is an expression of adolescent angst, then "Perfect" is an expression of being a lost and hollow 20 something.

    My favorite lines to compare are:

    No apologies ever need be made
    I know you better than you fake it

    and

    So far I still know who you are
    But now I wonder who I was

    Think of your best friend from youth or your first love... it fits perfectly (at least for me.)
    Flag JAM4321on July 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Billy has said that "Perfect" is a sequel to "1979". If "1979" is an expression of adolescent angst, then "Perfect" is an expression of being a lost and hollow 20 something.

    My favorite lines to compare are:

    No apologies ever need be made
    I know you better than you fake it

    and

    So far I still know who you are
    But now I wonder who I was

    Think of your best friend from youth or your first love... it fits perfectly (at least for me.)
    Flag JAM4321on July 14, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I had brain surgery, to the point where I forgot how to write....I forgot people's faces, but I could identify them by their voices...anyway. To me, this song explains perfectly my situation involving a potential boyfriend. I didn't remember specifics about what we did, but I remember hanging out with him a lot. He says I'm still the same, but he still feels that I'm a stranger. I can't help it. Perhaps we can try again, but I do not have romantic feelings for him.
    Flag blissfulon March 28, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song has been following me around for the past three weeks, I swear. I heard it while I was shopping in TJ Maxx, and I loved it, but I couldn't really understand the lyrics, so I never got around to looking it up. A week later, I was at my friends house, and we were watching a rerun of SNL where SP were performing this song. I was ecstatic to hear it again, because it sucks to lose track of a song you really dig, but I didn't catch the name of the song. Then, last night, I was driving around with two of my best friends, doing nothing and listening to the radio, and this song comes on. Thankfully, the DJ said the name of the song at the end, lol. I finally got to download it today, and I'm obsessed with it. I adore SP; it's odd that I hadn't heard the song before. I don't know how or why this song keeps following me, but I'll welcome it with open arms (:
    Flag elle182on October 10, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the song is about when Courtney Love and Billy Corgan went out. This is way before Courtney met Kurt.
    just look at the first verse. he still has feelings for her, but she doesn't want to be with Billy.
    Flag tenclub07on June 15, 2010   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:Makes me want to cry, every time!
    Flag sailingallaloneon December 23, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think Corgan wrote this about his ex-wife, i can't remember her name Jennifer perhaps?

    The important lines for me are

    "angel, you know it's not the end
    we'll always be good friends
    the letters have been sent on "

    I always imagine the letters being sent on are divorce papers and that he is telling her that they will still be good friends.
    I could be wrong but that's how i hear it.
    Flag mississippi garyon October 28, 2009   Link

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