|
Alanis Morissette
Santa Monica 2000
page 2
Although she recognizes that people often focus only on the rage and sexuality expressed in work, in her soul the songs that matter most are the ones infused with the divine spirit. "There's divinity is in all of us," she says softly. "But sometimes people just need to be reminded of it. And that's why there are songwriters. To remind everyone. That's our job."
Bluerailroad: Is being truthful in songs something that came easily for you?
Alanis Morissette: No. I think on the first records that I did when I was younger, some of it was truthful. Some were pretty close to how I felt, but I don't think I was old enough consciously or emotionally to be able to actually share everything that was my highest truth in songs at that age. Because I would have had to back them up in the way that I lived and in performance and in the interviews that I gave. And I surely wasn't prepared to do that back then.
Has your songwriting process changed since the start?
I have come full circle. It's exactly the way I wrote when I was ten. Usually I start with a note that I hit, and that starts a melody and lyric all at the same time. Or I'll have a line written down that I know I want to sing about, and I'll sing it and then I will envelop the melody with whatever music is underneath. But the music and the lyrics are always written at the same time.
Are your lyrics always true to your own life?
Yes. I mean, they're snapshots of where I am at the time. They're songs on Jagged Little Pill that have lines that make me realize I have already altered that belief.
But then other songs that were written in retrospect, songs like "You Oughta Know," I think I could sing till I was ninety, because I was singing in retrospect. Songs like "Perfect" or "One" or "The Couch" because they're all my having looked back or my having summarized a different part of my life. And I could sing those forever.
The rage in "You Oughta Know" is so genuine. When you wrote it, were you still in the middle of that anger?
I was very much in the middle of it. I was in the middle of it up into right before Supposed Infatuation Junkie [Laughs], really. I was in that space, definitely, while writing all the songs for Jagged Little Pill.
Some say it's impossible to write while in the middle of emotional turmoil, while others seem to require it --
I feel both applies to me. Sometimes I feel when I'm in the middle of it, I love it. That's the best time to write. And then other times, equally, I'll write in retrospect. But I can conjure up, or remember if nothing else, how I felt.
"You Oughta Know" is a rare example of a direct attack in a song, reminiscent of Dylan singing, "You've got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend," in "Positively 4th Street." Was it directed at a specific person?
Yes. And it wasn't directed at him in the sense that I wrote it just to finally admit how I felt. It was written almost irrespective of the person and irrespective of their response to it. It wasn't written to elicit a response from this person or to seek any sort of revenge. It was to unburden myself with my now allowing myself to just admit how I felt. And in admitting how I felt by singing it so many times, I kind of transcended it really. I was able to allow myself to admit all of this [Laughs] and to go forth from there, instead of getting stuck there.
I think, though, that at times this may have been misinterpreted. I mean, if I were to listen to Jagged Little Pill now with the objectivity that I have, it could be perceived as a record very much about being a victim. But I think there's almost a footnote that needed to be given after that record saying these expressions were expressed in order to transcend them. As opposed to staying stuck in them forever.
The vocals on the album are amazingly passionate-
Yeah. I was letting a lot out. I did all the vocals in one or two takes. That was an incredible time, doing that. I consider a record successful when it really is a snapshot of a period of time in my life. And singing "Your House," which is the hidden track at the end, was like sewing up, finishing up the record. I was excited and afraid and vibrating all the time right when that record was being finished.
Did you and Glen always write words and music simultaneously?
Yeah. All at the same time, really quickly. And if it became a belabored process at any point in the writing of the song, we would stop. Because if it wasn't channeled and it wasn't stream of consciousness, then I just didn't want to have to beat it out of me, because it didn't feel inspired. And that was the template we had, which was great.
To achieve that level with a collaborator is remarkable-
Yeah. Believe me, I tried to do it with a huge handful of writers. For the years prior to that I wasn't actually able to tap into the proverbial source because I felt limited, or judged, and any of the above things that aren't overly nurturing. And then when I was with Glen, just the songs that we wrote were such a testament to how open he was, and how non-judgmental and excited her was about it, too.
Did the lyrics emerge in the order that we hear them?
Yes. Usually I start with the first line. And I've never rewritten a song. Ever. All the words come out exactly the way you hear it. I have definitely edited the lyrics. I have taken certain verses out. Because the song is 13-minutes long. But I've never rewritten a song.
And yet your songs are so well-conceived.
Thanks. It's like a conversation.
Top
| Back
With who?
With God. Or you. Or Glen. Or myself.
What allows a song to come through that completely?
It's a hugely spiritual experience for me. Which I am humbled by in the grandest sense of that word. It's very channeled and I oftentimes don't even feel like I wrote it.
Is it more a form of discovery than invention?
Absolutely. Yeah. Exactly. It is not something you can really control. But if you can kind of ride with it, and not smother it, it can take you where you need to go.
Did you and Glen ever talk about it?
Sometimes we would talk about it. But a lot of times we didn't need to talk about it. It's just so obvious. So we just smiled and laughed. [Laughter]
Did it take time to establish a connection with Glen at first?
No. It happened within the first fifteen minutes. [Laughs] We wrote our first song "The Bottom Line" within half an hour of having met each other. It was so great. I knew it was not something I wanted on the record, but I knew that if we continued and evolved together, eventually I would reach a point where I would tap into certain parts of myself that had been scary prior to that experience.
Writing with Glen was much like the way I wrote when I was ten. I'd be singing, and he would be following me, chasing me. Or he'd play a chord and I'd sing on top of it.
Besides your amazing lyrics, you and Glen also created amazing melodies, with big ranges and unusual, appealing intervals.
Yeah, I love interesting intervals and movement. I like melodies that have a big range, and open up slowly as you hear them.
Did you and Glen would work equally on the music?
Yes. It was a total collaboration. I wrote the lyrics, but the melody and lyrics were always coming out at exactly the same time, basically.
Did you ever write a whole lyric before bringing it to Glen to work on the music?
Yes, twice. I did that with "That I Would Be Good" and also "Would Not Come."
Did that change the writing process?
Yes. It makes it easier. Because the urgency and the energy in the room when you're creating something out of nothing is more intense. When you're going into it knowing what you are going to sing about, it softens the energy.
How long would it take to reach the place where it felt the songs were channeled?
Sometimes it would happen within ten minutes of getting together, and other times three hours into it, it would be just floating around, trying not to get too frustrated, and then it would hit, and then we would knew we had tapped in, and we would just go.
What allows that connection to succeed?
Not pressuring it too much. I think writer's block can simply be translated into pressure. Whether it's time or whether it's expectation. The best way to write a song, for me anyway, is to have no expectation at all, and to make sure you put no pressure at all on yourself.
Top
| Back
Did Glen ever comment on lyrics while you were working?
Sure. I mean, he'll comment on them. Not in the sense that he says I should or shouldn't write something. But he will laugh. Or sometimes he will compliment. Especially during Jagged Little Pill. I remember him saying such sweetly flattering and complimentary things. And I had no objectivity at all on what I was doing. He would say, "Wow, you really have no idea how great this is." And I would say, "Thank you, and I don't really know what you're talking about. [Laughs] But thank you."
Have you ever found anything that you couldn't express in a song?
No. No. I remember when I was younger I was working in environments with people who would say, "Well, you can't fit this in" and "This isn't syncopated properly" and "This structure doesn't work." And I remember just bubbling with anger, and wanting to say, "Please just don't tell me what can't fit into a song." But out of respect for them and respect for the collaboration, I didn't push it. But I knew at some point I could gain a very unfettered view of songwriting and get to a place where I didn't have to worry about structure. Or I could adhere to structure if I so chose. But I didn't ever have to be restricted by it.
Did Glen ever discourage your readiness to mess with song structure?
No, he was thrilled. Because he was ready to mess with song structure himself.
Carole King also loves to play with song structure.
She inspired me since I was very young. I have always adored Carole King. Tapestry has been one of my favorite albums much of my life. It was kind of a staple for me throughout many years.
Like her you play unusual structures against conventional ones, as in "I Was Hoping," which has expansive verses set against a normal chorus structure.
Yeah. I do that because I love the feel of that, the release of a chorus that I can hold onto musically, especially when I am trying to fit so many words into the verses. That song was originally twice as long as it was. We edited it down, because it just went on for, like, five years. [Laughs]
Though that chorus is regular, still you change the words to it each time, as in many of your songs.
[Laughs] Yeah. Right. Because I feel limited by repetition of lyrics. Unless they're so perfect. The chorus of "Baba," for example, is one I felt I could sing over and over. I felt it tied up exactly what I was singing about.
In "I Was Hoping" and "Thank You " and others, though, I felt that there was more to say and that I wasn't done saying it yet. So I just kept saying it till I felt it was done.
"You Oughta Know" resulted in your reputation as an angry young woman. But "Head Over Feet," is as genuinely happy as some of the others are angry.
Yeah. I wrote that at a time when I was willing to admit that in a lot of the other songs I may have felt like a victim of sorts. But in this song I kind of take responsibility, which was a foreshadowing of things to come in the future. Just seeing that a lot of times I was my own saboteur, you know? So that song is such a sweet, warm song. It's about the fear of health. [Laughs] About being with someone who would, heaven forbid, treat me kindly. [Laughter]
It has the line, "I've never felt this healthy before."
Yeah. [Laughs] Yikes! Scary!
"Ironic" sparked an ironic discussion in the media about the definition of irony.
Yeah. [Laughs] And a lot of what was in that song wasn't ironic at all. There was a bit of a non-sequitur-izing going on in that song. A lot of my songs are very literal, so I could understand if people are in a very literal head space, it would be disconcerting to hear things that weren't ironic to be followed with "Isn't it ironic?" [Laughs] So I totally get it. But I wasn't being overly precious about it. I had to laugh myself, though, because I had always been the queen of malapropisms when I was young. [Laughter]
(continued ...)
Top
| Back
<
| page 1
| page 2
| page 3
| >
|
