Alanis Morissette was never particularly attached to “Ironic”, which largely stood apart from the autobiographical narrative of the ‘Jagged Little Pill’ album. In a recent Rolling Stone Music Now Podcast, she claims she never wanted it on the album but pressure from others landed it on the record and the song became a huge hit.
The debate over most of the examples given in the song not being true bits of irony has been raging for 25 years and hopefully, her explanation will finally simmer the cauldron of hot back and forth over the issue.
Check the lyrics yourself and see what you think:
Yeah, ah, ah
Yeah, I
He won the lottery and died the next day
It’s a black fly in your Chardonnay
It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take
And who would’ve thought? It figures
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down, he thought
“Well, isn’t this nice”
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take
And who would’ve thought? It figures
Of sneaking up on you
When you think everything’s okay
And everything’s going right
And life has a funny way
Of helping you out
When you think everything’s gone wrong
And everything blows up in your face
A “no smoking” sign on your cigarette break
It’s like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It’s meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?
A little too ironic, and yeah I really do think
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take
And who would’ve thought? It figures
Of sneaking up on you
And life has a funny, funny way
Of helping you out
Helping you out
In the Broadway version of ‘Jagged Little Pill’, the show’s characters echo years worth of mockery of the song and hopefully helps the cause of ending the debate in a humorous manner.
Unfortunately, with Broadway being shut down indefinitely due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, you’ll have to wait to see the exchange about the topic. Now isn’t that ironic?
