It’s Finally “Ironic” After All These Years
Irony is a concept that is commonly misunderstood, and perhaps no one is more to blame for this confusion than Alanis Morissette, whose 1996 hit single “Ironic” lists a series of strange and often morbid coincidences and then asks the question “Isn’t it ironic?”
The answer, for the vast majority of examples in her song, is no. This post by Matthew Sturges actually scores the song, as follows:
Attempts at describing irony: 11
Successful attempts: 2.5
Confusion of irony with “poor sense of timing”: 6
Completely missing the term: 3
Fortunately, two sisters, Eliza and Rachael Hurwitz, have corrected Morissette’s song, to actually make it ironic after all of these years.
For instance, here are their revisions to Morissette’s decidedly un-ironic chorus:
It’s like rain/ on your wedding day (a day and place you chose because it’s known not to rain)
It’s a free ride/ but you get mugged on the way
We’ve got good advice/ we’re forcing you to take
Enjoy the video here:
Follow them on Twitter @ChaelLeah and @ElizaHurwitz
