Terug Ironic (1996)
by
Alanis Morissette
An old man turned ninety-eight
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
Isn’t it ironic…don’t you think
Chorus:
It’s like rain on your wedding day
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s a good advice that you just didn’t take
Who would have thought…it figures
Mr. Play It Save was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well isn’t that nice…"
And isn’t it ironic…don’t you think
Repeat Chorus:
Well life has a funny way 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 trafic jams when you’re already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It’s like ten thousend spoons when all you need is a knife
It’s meeting the man of my dreams
And than meeting his beautiful wife
And isn’t it ironic…don’t you think
A little too ironic…and yeah I really do think…
Repeat Chorus:
Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out
Stanzas, chorus and rhymepattern
Stanzas The song has five stanzas. The first, the second and the fourth stanza have got the same melody. The third and the fifth stanza are interludes. They have got different melodies.
Chorus The chorus appears three times in the song. There’s is no rhymepattern in the chorus.
Rhymepattern - Stanza 1: a b b a c
- Stanza 2: d d e f g c
- Stanza 3: h e i j k Conclusion: no rhymepattern
- Stanza 4: a l m n m c c
- Stanza 5: h o o
The only pattern I see in this song is that three of the five stanzas have got the same melody and contain the sentence ‘Isn’t it ironic…don’t you think’ at the end.
Paraphrase
An old man won the lotery and died the next day. This is very ironic. He lived ninety-eight years and had never won the lotery. Now that he’s dead, the man himself doesn’t have any pleasure of his money.
The second stanza is about Mr. Play It Save who was afraid to fly. He waited his whole life to take a certain flight, but the plain crashed down and he died. This also very ironic.
The third stanza is a sort of conclusion or résumé. It tells you about the funny way of life. It sneaks up on you, but it also helps you out.
In stanza four there are some more ironic situations. For example a trafic that jams when you are already late or meeting the man of your dreams and then find out that he is already married to a beautiful woman.
The last stanza is a shorter version of the third.
My own opinion
It’s a very weird song, maybe that’s why I like it so much. This song contains some very ironic happenings. It’s pleasant to read and to listen to. I also like the style of singing of Alanis Morissette. It’s a mix of rock, cabaret and pop. This song has scored very high in the hitlists all over the world.
Terug