Ironic (song)

Musically, the song is a glossy take on a basic grunge music format, with delicate, sparsely-instrumented verses alternating with loud, aggressive chorus sections.

Lyrically, the song consists of a series of vignettes describing situations, each ending in the repeated question "Isn't it ironic?" For example:

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
:And isn't it ironic... don't you think?

Linguistic controversy

The song's usage of the word ironic attracted attention from people concerned with the precise use of the English language.

• The first dictionary meaning of the word irony, (American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition), is "the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning". We will refer to this as "the strict sense" of the word.
• The dictionary, however, acknowledges that it can also mean mere "incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs". We will call this the "casual sense" of the word. See: dramatic irony. ( This definition is not of dramatic irony, but of irony of situation. Dramatic irony occurs in a work when the audience knows something that the character does not. Also, this usage is not "casual," it is merely different. The "strict sense" is only one type of irony, verbal irony.)
• A usage note says "the words ironic, irony, and ironically are sometimes used of events and circumstances that might better be described as simply 'coincidental' or 'improbable', in that they suggest no particular lessons about human vanity or folly", but says that a majority of their usage panel rejects this usage. We will refer to this as "sloppy usage" of the word.

Supporters argued that the song title used the word ironic correctly in the casual sense. They argued that it was self-referential, and that the irony consisted of the song's use of the word ironic to create an expectation that the song would be about irony, followed by the incongruous presentation of situations that were not ironic.

A further defense could be that each line of the song is only a part of that particular situation and with further information each could be ironic.

Some of those familiar with the song and the usage debate invoke Morissette's name in reference either to the sloppy usage, or to the subtly self-referential usage of the word ironic. It remains to be seen whether phrases such as "Morissettian irony" will enter the common lexicon.

Alanis Morissette once said herself that the biggest irony of "Ironic" is that there is no irony in the lyrics: "The irony of 'Ironic' is that it's not an ironic song at all."

But there is at least one instance of true, verbal irony in the song's final lines:

"Life has a funny way of helping you out."

It is clear that the speaker does not believe that the incidents thereto narrated are "helpful".

Furthermore, the line is repeated with the addition of a pause between "helping you" and "out", pointing to a different sense of "helping you out", i.e. pushing you out the door. With this added sense, the song ends with an image similar to "the eternal footman" from T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, subtly, grimly, ironically intimated.

References