Composition
"Flea and I did that song together in the studio. It was already written with different instrumentation and we were asked to kind of re-write the music... A lot like a re-mix. The structure of the song was in place but there were no guide tracks, we just had the vocal to work from. It was just a good time and we basically jammed until we found something we were both happy with. Alanis was happy too."
—Dave Navarro talking about the conception of "You Oughta Know".According to an ABC News article, "Alanis Morissette revealed that her angst-ridden hit 'You Oughta Know' was about her relationship with Dave Coulier". In an August 2008 interview to the Calgary Sun, Coulier admitted to being the ex-boyfriend portrayed in the song. In 1997 the Boston Herald reported that Coulier "admitted the lines are very close to home. Especially the one about 'an older version of me' and bugging him 'in the middle of dinner.'"
However, in October 2008, Morissette reiterated her refusal to identify the subject, commenting to a CanWest News Service journalist,
"Well, I've never talked about who my songs were about and I won't, because when I write them they're written for the sake of personal expression. So with all due respect to whoever may see themselves in my songs, and it happens all the time, I never really comment on it because I write these songs for myself, not other people."
Other celebrities have been rumored to be the lover in the song, including: Bob Saget, Coulier's co-star on Full House; Mike Peluso, hockey player for the New Jersey Devils and previously for the Ottawa Senators in 1992–93; Matt LeBlanc, the actor who appeared in the video for Morissette's single "Walk Away" in 1991;, and Leslie Howe, a musician and the producer of Morissette's first two albums in the early 1990s.
Read more about this topic: You Oughta Know
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.”
—Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890)
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)
“Vices enter into the composition of virtues as poisons into the composition of certain medicines. Prudence and common sense mix them together, and make excellent use of them against the misfortunes that attend human life.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)