Heart Of The House

This song is so sad, and yet so beautiful. It reminds me of my relationship with my mother. She was so busy being a "good mother" that she forgot to mother us. The line "Where did you get that from?" makes me cry. The fact that your own mother could not see herself in her child is sad.

I'm so angry because so less people see Alanis' awesome talent in songwriting :-(...SFIJ is kind of masterpiece in songwriting: just read Baba. thank U, Sympathetic character, The couch, Would not come, Can't not, Your congratulations (!!!), One....That I would be good....

I don't know...somehow I relate the song to Mother Theresa...?

It is just a tribute to her mother, isn't it?

I agree with Nietzsche, and that line moved me too. This whole song makes me picture Alanis sitting on her bed with a photo album, smiling yet woeful about what she can remember of her childhood and how her mother was. "We left the men and we went for a walk in the gatineaus" That has a very feminist feel to me, even if it wasn't intended, it's my favourite line. And at the end "Do you see yourself in my.." Makes me think of Alanis (or whoever the song may be about) viewing themselves and their ways and comparing them to what their mother used to do/be like. It's a beautiful song.

This song is essentially about the front her mother puts up around her friends and family. While living up to this front, Alanis' mother completely forgets about her own daughter and overlooks her. The last part of the song is her mother not believing that she's abandoned her daughter for so long; she can't even tell that they inhibit the same characteristics. Also, the alternate spelling of women as womyn, is a feminist term because women is apart of the men and womyn is a standalone.

The song is definately bittersweet, but it's, of course, just one of Alanis' beautifully written masterpieces. I love the title of the song. It reminds me of how men are usually the "Heads of the house", so to Alanis, her mother is the "Heart of the house", which, to me, has a much more positive meaning. Thanks paganpoetry :] I was wondering what the alternate spelling meant. Now I think I'll use it in the future haha.

This is about the relationship between a mother and her daughter, Alanis being the daughter. It is not so much about the fact that a woman wants to have the appearance of keeping appearances, as you lot said above, as it is about a woman's true devotion to her family. She is the heart and soul, the emotional core (if not the decision-making core) of the house.

The line "how seen were you actually? " is about the fact that the work a mother puts into her household is not always acknowledged, and in fact, can be ignored.

"you saw me run from the house in the snow melodramatically" discusses the fact that all members of the household are wrapped up in the thought that they must be the main character of the story, when really, it is the mother that is the hero.

"all hail the goddess! " refers to the fact that the children of the mother wind up sarcastically acknowledging the importance of her role.

"we left the men and we went for a walk in the gatineaus " is about leaving the house for marriage (the men) or for beauty (Gatineau Paris is a skincare company) or just to move to someplace new (Gatinaeu is also a town in Quebec).

"talked like women to women " is simply about reflecting on your life with your mother, no longer as a guardian-to-a-child but as a friend-to-a-friend, which is all we wind up being in relation to each other.