Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Do I stress you out?
My sweater is on backwards and inside out
And you say, how appropriate
I don't like to dissect everything today
I don't mean to pick you apart you see
But I can't help it
And there I go jumping before the gunshot has gone off
Slap me with a splintered ruler
And it would knock me to the floor if I wasn't there already
If only I could hunt the hunter
And all I really want is some patience
A way to calm the angry voice
And all I really want is deliverance, ah
Do I wear you out?
You must wonder why I'm relentless and all strung out
I'm consumed by the chill of solitary
I'm like Estella
I like to reel it in and then spit it out
I'm frustrated by your apathy
And I am frightened by the corrupted ways of this land
If only I could meet the maker
And I am fascinated by the spiritual man
I am humbled by his humble nature, yeah
And what I wouldn't give to find a soul mate?
Someone else to catch this drift
And what I wouldn't give to meet a kindred? Ah
Enough about me, let's talk about you for a minute
Enough about you, let's talk about life for a while
The conflicts, the craziness and the sound of pretenses is falling
All around, all around
Why are you so petrified of silence?
Here can you handle this?
Did you think about your bills, you ex, your deadlines
Or when you think you're going to die?
Or did you long for the next distraction?
And all I need now is intellectual intercourse
A soul to dig the hole much deeper
And I have no concept of time other than it is flying
If only I could kill the killer
And all I really want is some peace man
A place to find a common ground
And all I really want is a wavelength, ah
And all I really want is some comfort
A way to get my hands untied
And all I really want is some justice, ah
It's all I really want, some patience
A way to calm me down
And all I really want is deliverance
A place to find a common ground
My sweater is on backwards and inside out
And you say, how appropriate
I don't like to dissect everything today
I don't mean to pick you apart you see
But I can't help it
And there I go jumping before the gunshot has gone off
Slap me with a splintered ruler
And it would knock me to the floor if I wasn't there already
If only I could hunt the hunter
And all I really want is some patience
A way to calm the angry voice
And all I really want is deliverance, ah
Do I wear you out?
You must wonder why I'm relentless and all strung out
I'm consumed by the chill of solitary
I'm like Estella
I like to reel it in and then spit it out
I'm frustrated by your apathy
And I am frightened by the corrupted ways of this land
If only I could meet the maker
And I am fascinated by the spiritual man
I am humbled by his humble nature, yeah
And what I wouldn't give to find a soul mate?
Someone else to catch this drift
And what I wouldn't give to meet a kindred? Ah
Enough about me, let's talk about you for a minute
Enough about you, let's talk about life for a while
The conflicts, the craziness and the sound of pretenses is falling
All around, all around
Why are you so petrified of silence?
Here can you handle this?
Did you think about your bills, you ex, your deadlines
Or when you think you're going to die?
Or did you long for the next distraction?
And all I need now is intellectual intercourse
A soul to dig the hole much deeper
And I have no concept of time other than it is flying
If only I could kill the killer
And all I really want is some peace man
A place to find a common ground
And all I really want is a wavelength, ah
And all I really want is some comfort
A way to get my hands untied
And all I really want is some justice, ah
It's all I really want, some patience
A way to calm me down
And all I really want is deliverance
A place to find a common ground
Lyrics submitted by Boonechic_21
All I Really Want Lyrics as written by Alanis Nadine Morissette Glen Ballard
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Gentle Hour
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
OK...the lyrics are the result of a brilliant-minded 20- year old free-spirited girl who could read Chaucer by age 6, but was enthralled by the psycho-babble of Ayn Rand and Sigmund Freud so that by her teens she could blow the minds and excel in mental gymnastics, besting any 17 year old boy ready to spray shorts. So she (allegedly) hooks up with a 30-year old tv star, Dave Coulier (My Two Dads) who rocks her world in bed, but is emotionally detached to her; she's just dying to get inside his head after sex, but he won't open up. Frustrated by his lack of communication, she takes pen to paper and writes 2 of the all-time man-eating rants based (allegedly) on their relationship.(The other song being the lurid tale of, among other things sex in a theater, "You Oughtta Know"). Alanis came out of nowhere and seized the zeitgist of feminist-angst, especially the 20-something year-old grrrls who weren't gonna take crap from no neanderthal, mysogonistic cretin...dude. So strict interepretation of this song is futile, besides, maybe Dave didn't want to know what goes on inside a head like hers.
(From definitelyalanis.com):Alanis compares herself to a woman named "Estella". This is a reference to the character Estella in Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. Estella has a tendency to use the men in her life and be used by them at the same time, hence the lyric "I'm like Estella. I like to reel it in and then spit it out. I'm frustrated by your apathy." As Alanis put it, "Estella has man troubles to say the least."
Personally...what a great way of expression she uses here!...hmmmh, my fave lines: "What I wouldn't give to find a soulmate Someone else to catch this drift And what I wouldn't give to meet a kindred" "All I really want is some peace man A place to find a common ground And all I really want is a wavelength All I really want is some comfort A way to get my hands untied And all I really want is some justice"
crazy how artists can just nail the most beautiful dyagnosis for your soul
I co-managed the Alanis Morissette Mailing List online fanclub in '96 and '97.
Most (of the over 900 members) saw AIRW as a straight-up an expression of Al's hope to find intimates who can communicate at her stratospheric level of both consciousness and conceptualization. It's consistent with the later "21 Things I Want in a Lover."
Al started seeing (much) older men when she was =ten=, after all. Most people do not have 140+ IQs and find developmental and interpersonal psychology all that fascinating. She does.
Al was aware that she actually "got hot" when she got "deeply into it" with other people as truth-telling as she is. "I don't want to dissect everything today... I don't mean to pick you apart, you see... But I ca-ya-ah-ah-ahn't =help= it."
It's clear from many of her other tunes that she understands her obsession with communication. It's =really= important to her. (Or was then, anyway.)
i love how all of alanis's cds tell her life story. you see the angst in the first album, then the recovery in play in the second, and finally the postive and more content personality in the third. it's like a novel explaining a perplexed charater that lies in everyone.
i LOVE the first and sixth verse! "Do I stress you out? My sweater is on backwards and inside out and you say how appropriate" haha great lyrics! so random thats why i fucking love it.
Probably my second favourite song of Alanis's after You Oughta Know.
I'm not sure if I ever really saw it as being misunderstood as others have pointed out. Perhaps that played into it, but I always saw this as a stream of consciousness kind of song. I mean lines and thoughts dont connect. It's like artwork in the written form. Getting all her cards on the table so to speak.
I feel like I've had conversations with my own mother dozens and dozens of times where it always ended with her saying "I dont get you" or "What do you mean" and I always related to this song because I always felt THIS, THIS is what I mean. THIS is what I want. Get it now?
Just about EVERY line is the best line. I cant select a favourite, theyre all just too damn good.
I always thought it was just "Stella",from "A Street Car Named Desire"... "Sttteeeeeelllllaaaaaaaa"!!!! ??
In this song Alanis compares herself to Estella from Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations while having a confrontation with her partner about their uncomfortable relationship. Alanis confrontationally vents about the dissonant, frustrating, and often constrictive nature of a relationship. Touchstone demons include being a misfit, impulsive, needy, and lonely.
My favorite Alanis song! Thanks Agatha, for the interp.