Is Ironic by Alanis Morrisette supposed to be ironic in that it isn't, or is simply a failure of a song? This is an argument that has been made countless times, but will once again be made here. Let's analyze!
i⋅ro⋅ny1 the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning |
"Ironic"
An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
This is sad and ridiculously unfortunate, but not ironic.
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
Hey, it happens.
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Highly unfortunate, yes, but not ironic.
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
No, no I don't.
It's like rain on your wedding day
That sucks, doesn't it?
It's a free ride when you've already paid
How unlucky.
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
That wasn't very smart of you.
Who would've thought... it figures
You get the picture. This used to be my favorite song and, as a consequence (because it really isn't that great a song to begin with), my definition of irony became sooo screwed up! I still have trouble really defining it. Only one bit is sort of ironic by definition:
Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well isn't this nice..."
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
Someone who's afraid of flying, crashes his first time on a plane. This is again an example of extremely bad luck, but I suppose it could be Ironic. But like I said, my definition isn't the most accurate.
HOWEVER, there is still the chance that it was all part of her master plan. Maybe, just MAYBE, she wrote this song with the intention for it to be not ironic at all, and in it's non-ironicness it IS, IN FACT, ironic!
But somehow I think it's just a song stemming from a major misconception of a literary term. It's more amusing that way, anyway.
Thoughts?