Alanis Morissette

Released: November 9, 1999

Songwriter: Alanis Morissette Glen Ballard

Producer: Alanis Morissette

[Intro]
Hey, yeah, yeah
Yeah, ah-ah-ah, yeah

[Verse 1]
An old man turned 98
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

[Pre-Chorus]
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 the good advice that you just didn't take
And who would've thought—it figures!

[Verse 2]
Mr. Play-It-Safe was afraid to fly
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?"

[Pre-Chorus]
And 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 the good advice that you just didn't take
And who would've thought—it figures!

[Bridge]
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

[Verse 3]
It's a traffic jam when you're already late
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

[Pre-Chorus]
And isn't it ironic?
Don't you think?
A little too ironic
And yeah, I really do think

[Chorus]
It's like rain on your wedding day
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!

[Outro]
And yeah, life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
And life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

Alanis Nadine Morissette was born on June 1, 1974, in Ottawa, Canada. At age 6, she began taking piano lessons, and by the time she was 9, she was writing her own songs.

When she was 11, Morissette joined the cast of a Nickelodeon children’s show called You Can’t Do That on Television, and saved up her earnings. In 1987, she used them to self-release her first track, “Fate Stay With Me.” The song caught the attention of record label MCA Canada; at age 14, Morissette signed a contract with the company. She released a self-titled album, Alanis, in 1991, which went platinum. Quickly following up the success of her first album, Morissette released Now Is The Time a year later, though it did not reach the same level of popularity.

In 1994 Morissette moved to Los Angeles teamed up with industry veteran Glen Ballard, and she began to approach songwriting more organically.

more tracks from the album

MTV Unplugged

From the album

MTV Unplugged (1999)

Alanis Morissette popular songs

Ironic (MTV Unplugged)Alanis Morissette

Alanis Morissette

MTV Unplugged