Alanis Morissette "Your House"

Here's another "Dismissive One Sentence Reviews By Friends" post . . .

In the mid-90s, when Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" was out, I had a close friend who was attending an all-Women's College in Roanoke.

Naturally, I visited quite a bit.

And naturally, the kick-ass, bare-it-all nature of Alanis' breakthrough record, resonated with many of the young women.

But there was one critique, by a girl that I really liked, that stood out to me.  It was about a lyric in the final, a capella song on the record, titled "Your House."

I took off my clothes
Put on your robe
I went through your drawers
And found your cologne
Went down to the den
Found your CD's
And I played your Joni
And I shouldn't stay long, you might be home soon
I shouldn't stay long

"I don't like it when a songwriter puts in a detail that keeps the song from being timeless."

Basically, she was saying that by referring to "CDs," the song was destined to become an anachronism.  A song about CDs couldn't have been written in the 60s or 70s, because they didn't exist.  And she had the foresight to realize that in the future, we wouldn't be listening to music on CDs, we'd be hearing our music via other mediums.

Eventually, the song would sound as silly as if it had said "Found your 8 Tracks" or "Found your cassingles."

I don't think I really agreed with her.  I don't find it necessary for a song to be timeless.  Sometimes it even helps.

Then again, maybe I was just more weirded out by the idea of some ex-girlfriend breaking in my place to take a shower.


Hear the song on Youtube.