1979

I remember staying, around 1990, at what were then the Ukumbak apartments on 8th Street in St Pete when I believe I wrote the lyrics that became the Smashing Pumpkins' song 1979 after reading a wild and freaky beat novel from the 1950s.

I had lived in the middle apts on the south (left) facing side on the 2nd floor.

There was another Ukumbak apt building next door to this one, but it burned down while I was living here.

I woke up at night from a dream where I was getting very warm to find the giant 10ft flames 10 feet from my window !

At the time, I had also just read in the St Pete Mirror Lake branch library's copy of Rolling Stone - that when she was dating members of the Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithful had allegedly been addicted to heroin. 

'Morphine city slippin' dudes don't see...'

I had also read the Rolling Stone's song 'Sister Morphine' was inspired by and co written by Faithful.

'And we don't even care to shake these zippered blues...'

- Sticky Fingers

As I recall, I was drinking a quart of Milwaukee's Best while trying to sexually relieve myself with my left hand while I was wearing my faded jeans - but gave up, while I was writing the lyrics with my right hand on a notebook on the old formica topped table.

It reminded me of the Sticky Fingers album cover, which some of you may remember featured a real life denim fly zipper.

I had wanted to sound 'street' again but I didn't think I was very street. It turns out though at the time the Ukumbaks were allegedly a crack house as someone later told me the police had bought the building across the street to keep track of who had been coming in and out of the Ukumbaks.

For me they were the cheapest place I could find in the apartment listings and I have no complaints, the apartment manager, Steve, gave me a break when I got mugged, almost across from the police dept on Central Avenue, and couldn't pay the weekly rent - so it was okay in my book.

The 2 guys who lived in the apt below mine had a argument because one of them had purchased a Mac-10.

Justine was a real girl. She had light brown almost blonde hair with short, frizzy waves with hazel eyes and was just a little pudgy, and she sat down next to me one day at Labor World.

She began telling me about all of these drug dealers she knew. I thought maybe she had a death wish. I told her maybe she shouldn't be mentioning all that at the labor pool because it might be dangerous but it didn't seem to phase her.

But Billy Corgan might have known Justine too, as he often worked out of the labor pool that was on Central Avenue just west of the railroad tracks on the south side of the street.

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