This is lead single from Alanis' fifth studio album. The third, 1995's Jagged Little Pill
, sold 16 million copies around the planet, to become one of the biggest selling discs of the decade. If you don't own a copy, you know at least two people who do. 1998's followup, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
could never have been quite as big, but still shifted a very creditable 4 million worldwide. The flame was kept glowing by an MTV Unplugged disc the following year, but this is still the first new Alanis in almost four years.
The tune opens with a soft guitar riff, and the trademark lyrics pouring out like a fast flowing waterfall. That's a market that Natalie Imbruglia cornered last year. Apparently, "this" only occurred because everyone concerned was mature and could keep their silence and didn't spill the beans. What a nice bunch of people.
Then comes the bridge, muttering about how things could be a problem, and just looking is criminal. Followed, as tends to be the case, by a huge singalong chorus. The video ends with footage of kids performing this track in a karaoke bar. Good luck for anyone trying that, the chorus is fine, but the verse will be a nightmare.
The middle eight gives the forthcoming album title, Under Rug Swept
, and wonders why everything is being forgotten.
This is clearly a song about a mutually repressed event. Interviews suggest this was an affair with someone involved with Morissette's first two albums, when she was Ottawa's Dancing Sensation (TM). Weaver's view is slightly different, but harks back to the same era.
Ooh, don't go telling everybody.
Ooh, this could all be a crime.
Alanis' early work, the two albums she recorded when she was Ottawa's Dancing Sensation (TM), have been kept securely under lock and key. They were Canadian only releases, have been deleted by the record company concerned, and fans are trading copies for around C$50. While they may not have been the highest quality work, and reflect an era of her history that Morissette would rather forget, they do still exist. No amount of re-writing history is going to wipe them out. Or take away her work on cult children's comedy You Can't Do That On Television
.
I've a huge soft spot for Alanis Morissette, being one of those 16 million and 4 million mentioned above. This is going to persuade me to purchase her next album.