ALANIS MORISSETTE - YOU OUGHTTA KNOW
I Want You To Know That I'm Happy For You
I Wish Nothing But The Best For You Both
An Older Version Of Me
Is She Perverted Like Me?
Would She Go Down On You In A Theatre?
Does She Speak Eloquently?
And Would She Have Your Baby?
I'm Sure She'd Make A Really Excellent Mother
'Cause The Love That You Have That We Made
Wasn't Able To Make It Enough For You To Be Open Wide, No
And Every Time You Speak Her Name
Does She Know How You Told Me You'd Hold Me Until You Die, 'Til You Die?
But You're Still Alive
And I'm Here To Remind You
Of The Mess You Left When You Went Away
It's Not Fair To Deny Me
Of The Cross I Bear That You Have To Me
You, You, You Oughtta Know
You Seem Very Well, Things Look Peaceful
I'm Not Quite As Well, I Thought You Should Know
Did You Forget About Me
Mr. Duplicity?
I Hate To Bug You In The Middle Of Dinner
It Was A Slap In The Face
How Quickly I Was Replaced
And Are You Thinking Of Me When You Fuck Her?
'Cause The Love That You Have That We Made
Wasn't Able To Make It Enough For You To Be Open Wide, No
And Every Time You Speak Her Name
Does She Know How You Told Me You'd Hold Me Until You Die, 'Til You Die?
But You're Still Alive
And I'm Here To Remind You
Of The Mess You Left When You Went Away
It's Not Fair To Deny Me
Of The Cross I Bear That You Have To Me
You, You, You Oughtta Know
'Cause The Joke That You Laid In The Bed That Was Me
And I'm Not Gonna Fade As Soon As You Close Your Eyes
And You Know It
And Every Time I Scratch My Nails Down Someone Else's Back
I Hope You Feel It
Well, Can You Feel It?
Well I'm Here To Remind You
Of The Mess You Left When You Went Away
It's Not Fair To Deny Me
Of The Cross I Bear That You Have To Me
You, You, You Oughtta Know
I Am Here To Remind You
Of The Mess You Left When You Went Away
It's Not Fair To Deny Me
Of The Cross I Bear That You Have To Me
You, You, You Oughtta Know
SONG FACTS
Writer(s): Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard
Producer(s): Glen Ballard
This Song Is An Angry Message From A Scorned Ex-Girlfriend Directed At Her Former Lover. Morissette Has Said It Is About A Specific Person, But That Person Has Not Contacted Her, And Probably Doesn't Know It's About Him. Morissette Claims She Will Never Say Who This Is About, Just As Carly Simon Has Done With "You're So Vain."
The Song Was Rumored To Be About The Actor Dave Coulier, Whom Morissette Dated For A Time - Coulier Says It Was In 1992 When Alanis Would Have Been 17 Or 18 Years Old And He Would Have Been 32 Or 33 (Hence The Line "An Older Version Of Me"). Coulier Played Joey On The Tv Show Full House, And Is Known For His Bullwinkle Impression.
The Lyrics Came From A Journal Entry Morissette Wrote During What She Describes As "A Very Devastated Time." She Told Spotify: "When I Hear That Song, I Hear The Anger As A Protection Around The Searing Vulnerability. I Was Mortified And Devastated. It Was A Lot Easier For Me To Be Angry And Feel The Power From That Anger Versus The Broken, Horrified Woman On The Floor."
Radio Stations Played This With Different Degrees Of Editing. The Offending Lines Are "Would She Go Down On You In A Theater" And "Are You Thinking Of Me When You F--K Her." Some Stations Played A Version That Completely Eliminated "Down" And "F--K," While Others Left In "Down" And Only Cut A Little Of "F--K."
It Took A Degree Of Courage For Alanis To Sing These Lines, And It Was Her Producer Glen Ballard Who Offered The Crucial Encouragement. Said Alanis: "I Thought, This Is Exactly How I Feel, But I Don't Want To Hurt Anybody. Glen Just Said, You Have To Do This."
Morissette Didn't Have A Record Deal When She Recorded This Song, And Had A Hard Time Finding Any Takers When She Shopped It Along With "Hand In My Pocket" And "Perfect" As A Demo For The Jagged Little Pill Album. The Only Major Label To Show Interest Was Madonna's Maverick Records, Whose 22-Year-Old A&R Man Guy Oseary Got Very Excited When He Heard It. He Signed Her To Maverick In A Deal That Worked Out Rather Well For The Label When The Album Became One Of The Best-Sellers Of The '90s.
This Won Grammys For Best Rock Song And Best Female Rock Vocal. Jagged Little Pill Also Won For Best Rock Album And Album Of The Year. Along With Bruce Springsteen And U2, Morissette Became The Only Artist To Win For Best Rock Song And Best Rock Album In The Same Year.
This Song Propelled Morissette To International Stardom, But Fame Turned Out To Be A Jagged Little Pill. When She Became Recognized Just About Everywhere She Went, It Ruined One Of Her Favorite Pursuits: People-Watching. After About 18 Months Of Touring An Promotion, She Was Exhausted. She Took A Trip To India To Get Centered And Released Her Next Album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, In 1998.
In America, This Song Blasted Over The Airwaves Late In The Summer Of 1995, Creating Quite A Buzz For Morissette. Because Of Its Cold Vocal Open, Djs Had To Be Quick And Creative When Talking It Up (No Dead Air... Keep The Music Moving), A Problem Compounded By Her Six Syllables. Talking Over The End Was Also Verboten - The Outro Is Also A Cold Vocal.
Many Listeners Ended Up In Record Stores Looking For The Song, Only To Find It Wasn't For Sale, A Common Gambit In Mid-'90s Music Marketing To Increase Album Sales. The Only Way To Own The Song Was On The Jagged Little Pill Album, Which Ended Up Selling Over 16 Million Copies At A Time When Albums Were Going For About $15 A Pop.
Morissette Performed A Slow Version Of This At The 1996 Grammy Awards. The Show Was On A 7-Second Delay So They Could Bleep Out The Word "F--K." The Uncensored Version Of The Grammy Performance Was Released As The B-Side Of "You Learn" In 1996.
Morissette Never Sang A Sanitized Version, Either In The Studio Or Live. When She Performed It On Tv, Producers Often Asked Her To Change The Lyrics, But She Never Did, Figuring It Was Better To Sing Her Truth And Have It Muted Than To Censor Herself.
This Song Gained A Lot Of Exposure When Morissette Performed It On The Mtv Video Music Awards And On Saturday Night Live.
Recording This Without A Label Deal Gave Morissette A Degree Of Freedom. "We Were So Completely Untethered From The Mainstream - No Record Company, No Supervision - So We Were All Really Just Doing It To Please Ourselves," Glen Ballard Told Songfacts. "I Had No Idea Where Or When It Would Come Out. I Knew I Had A Brilliant Artist In The Studio With Me And That's All I Cared About. We Weren't Listening To Stuff To Try To Make It Sound Like What Was On The Radio."
Beyoncé Covered The Song During Her 2009 I Am... World Tour And Performed Part Of It At The 2010 Grammy Awards.
For Mellow Coffeehouse Listening, Morissette Released A Toned-Down Version On The 10th Anniversary Acoustic Version Of Jagged Little Pill In 2005. It Was Sold Exclusively At Starbucks For The First Six Months.