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Alanis Morissette — Uninvited
Album: City Of Angels (soundtrack)
Avg rating:
6.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1981









Released: 1997
Length: 4:27
Plays (last 30 days): 1
Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you, you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Must be strangely exciting
To watch the stoic squirm
Must be somewhat heartening
To watch shepherd need shepherd
But you, you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Like any uncharted territory
I must seem greatly intriguing
You speak of my love like
You have experienced love like mine before
But this is not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

I don't think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate
Comments (224)add comment
I love it; a fabulous showcase for her incredible voice and passion! Much like some of Sinead O'Connor's best work...truly on-edge, raw with powerful emotion, and technically excellent.
Wow...t'was half-listening to this when I snapped back and reflexively reached for the PSD button. But something caused me to be a little more receptive to AM's work and talents after all these years of hating. I can admit now that she does have the chops and so now, a little respect from me. Progress. Now, Beth Orton and Natalie Merchant...

That is why RP is so powerful for me- a more contemplative, universe- expanding listening experience. Thank you, RP!
 DoctorHooey wrote:

I actually like the music and vocal performance of this song.

What kills me are the various horrible lyrical scans. "an unforTOOOOOOOOOnate slight". She's got the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble and it drives me bonKERS




You mean "horanferchianslide"?
Exquisite
Superb transition from Satie!   
 Emmettf wrote:

Still a near perfect pop song, really.




Very good! Sounds like an extension of Led Zeppelins  Kashmir
Still a near perfect pop song, really.
It is once again time to praise the seamless transition : Erik Satissette's Gymnopeduninvited.
 CoYoT51 wrote:

I thought I loved you, Caroline.
Now I know I hate you.



action talked
 timmus wrote:
Never really liked this but it brings back a lot of memories of March/April 1998 when this was in heavy rotation on FM radio.
 


 
Alanis is kind of noteworthy for this.  On all her songs, especially on the Jagged Little Pill album, she gives a little yelp at the end of every one of her sentences, where she creates a break between modal and falsetto.  Once you hear it you notice it *constantly* on her songs.



I don't think the poster is talking about this, but yeah,  the little yelp is a signature of her vocal style
 kingart wrote:

It was an OK-to-good 1998 remake of a superb German movie. Wings of Desire (1988, Wim Wenders).  An angel tires of overseeing human activity and wishes to become human when he falls in love with a mortal.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093191/



THANKS .........

tell us some more endings and movie plots to films no one has seen yet hahahahahaha
Never really liked this but it brings back a lot of memories of March/April 1998 when this was in heavy rotation on FM radio.
 
 rhlrstn wrote:
What kills me are the various horrible lyrical scans. "an unforTOOOOOOOOOnate slight". She's got the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble and it drives me bonKERS
 

 
Alanis is kind of noteworthy for this.  On all her songs, especially on the Jagged Little Pill album, she gives a little yelp at the end of every one of her sentences, where she creates a break between modal and falsetto.  Once you hear it you notice it *constantly* on her songs.
I thought I loved you, Caroline.
Now I know I hate you.
Hmm. I liked Alanis at the time, but her voice grates on me now.  I still enjoy the lyrics though. 
 thousandrobots wrote:

Gotta hand it to Bill for the perfect transition from Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1 to this track. 


Came here to say the exact same thing and found your comment... and the fact that I'd already "liked" it :)
 DoctorHooey wrote:

I actually like the music and vocal performance of this song.

What kills me are the various horrible lyrical scans. "an unforTOOOOOOOOOnate slight". She's got the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble and it drives me bonKERS



With you on that one... I generally like the song but I do wish the meter and melody worked together a bit better.
 Jelani wrote:
I really like this, but the strings remind me of that really bad rendition of a Zep song in that movie Sucker Punch.
 
I saw here in 99 for The Junkie Tour.  Tori Amos opened.

Alanis simply blew me away with her musicality and the show was really an homage to LZ .  She was very Plantish in her movement around the stage and some of her inflections.  I suspect that she is just as much of a fan as are the Wilson sisters.
Great track and artist. saw her with my teenage daughter in the early 00s and was very impressed with her performance.
Beat me to it

 
thousandrobots wrote:
Gotta hand it to Bill for the perfect transition from Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1 to this track. 
 

Gotta hand it to Bill for the perfect transition from Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1 to this track. 
Nice transition from Satie.

The last time I saw Alanis, she was on a teaching series about trauma. This is a topic I've studied extensively... she knows her stuff pretty well. She's a deep diver of the soul. 
 dkowach wrote:
Cough, City of Angels  is not directed by Wenders, cough. Not that cough.
 
Eh? Huh. Well, thanks for that. I thought I looked that up.
I've corrected my post.
By far her best piece and largely overlooked.
Give me some good old rock n' roll, this sounds like my Dentist's office music, a 2 at the best
AM hailed in the birth of Third Wave Feminism...God help us!
..and it's by the way a great segue from Eric Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1.
A wonderful, heartwrenching song.
 DoctorHooey wrote:
I actually like the music and vocal performance of this song.

What kills me are the various horrible lyrical scans. "an unforTOOOOOOOOOnate slight". She's got the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble and it drives me bonKERS
 
Maybe that was  the point. Three is a piece of art at the Hirshhorn Museum in DC.  It is clearly supposed to be like fingernails on a chalk board.  I don't remember what it is called. 
 easmann wrote:

That's okay. Some artists are inherently polarizing and it's not too difficult to see why Alanis is in that list. If there's anything I've learned here it's that you don't have to understand why others like stuff you don't (though, I'll admit, it's nice to know if it can be articulated), but it's helpful if you understand that it happens all the time. 

For instance, I see you've got a Richard Thompson (another obvious polarizer) song in your "10" list, which is fine. That song's a one for me as it happens, while this one, for me, is an eight. Which says absolutely nothing about the two of us other than that tastes differ and that's as it should be. Peace.

Addendum: About the film, if you're interested, I agree with those who recommend the original German version (Wings of Desire) over City of Angels. Despite both being directed by Wim Wenders, City of Angels doesn't match the atmosphere or emotional impact of Wings.
 
Cough, City of Angels  is not directed by Wenders, cough. Not that cough.
Hopefully, there's an ointment for this.
Easily her best song! (Haters gonna hate)
I really like this, but the strings remind me of that really bad rendition of a Zep song in that movie Sucker Punch.
My favorite from Alanis!
heard this on TV in a commercial when I was a kid
don't remember what the commercial was for
but never forgot this melody
didn't hear it again until RP
I just began to see how great this song is. Then I read the posts which brought me back to earth and it ain’t pretty.
Whatever.........I fucking love this song!!
Ignoring all the 'music critics' here and just simply enjoying the song and her brilliant vocals.  
An unpleasant experience.
Never to be forgiven since she WRECKED Cole Porter in "De-lovely".
It was an OK-to-good 1998 remake of a superb German movie. Wings of Desire (1988, Wim Wenders).  An angel tires of overseeing human activity and wishes to become human when he falls in love with a mortal.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093191/
I'm surprised by all the negative comments... I love this song ! For me it's a very successful dramatic song with a crescendo in power and what sounds like madness, like being carried away by her passion. I have never seen the movie and don't know what it's about but, in my opinion, the song is great !
some things just get better with age, sadly this is not one of them.
 DrLex wrote:
Overall I can appreciate her singing, but that frequent ‘slip’ at the end of words where her voice suddenly shoots up, drives me nuts. It would be OK to use this gimmick just once in a song, but not all the time. It's a bit like those frog sounds Britney Spears makes.
 
It can be (and has been) overdone but used carefully it has a good effect.
Haunting. Probably the best use of her vocals. 
Overall I can appreciate her singing, but that frequent ‘slip’ at the end of words where her voice suddenly shoots up, drives me nuts. It would be OK to use this gimmick just once in a song, but not all the time. It's a bit like those frog sounds Britney Spears makes.
 easmann wrote:

That's okay. Some artists are inherently polarizing and it's not too difficult to see why Alanis is in that list. If there's anything I've learned here it's that you don't have to understand why others like stuff you don't (though, I'll admit, it's nice to know if it can be articulated), but it's helpful if you understand that it happens all the time. 

For instance, I see you've got a Richard Thompson (another obvious polarizer) song in your "10" list, which is fine. That song's a 1 for me as it happens, while this one, for me, is an eight. Which says absolutely nothing about the two of us other than that tastes differ and that's as it should be. Peace.

Addendum: About the film, if you're interested, I agree with those who recommend the original German version (Wings of Desire) over City of Angels. Despite both being directed by Wim Wenders, City of Angels doesn't match the atmosphere or emotional impact of Wings.

 
{#Cool} A well-considered response - we all have different tastes - I think surely most people listening to RP are properly interested in music and open to different styles, so we'll have a lot of common-ground, interspersed with these polarising artists.

For me, I was enjoying this just now, and was surprised to see I'd rated it a '4' previously - it's gone up to '7' now - so maybe mood makes a big difference with the likes of Alanis?
I actually like the music and vocal performance of this song.

What kills me are the various horrible lyrical scans. "an unforTOOOOOOOOOnate slight". She's got the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble and it drives me bonKERS
The raw story of my romantic life, seen from the feminine side.
 DavidS_UK wrote:
It's gone from an interesting sound to a painful whine in a surprisingly small amount of airplays!

 
On this, we do agree.
BTW, I have seen her perform this on a forest stage and it was superb.................but also sung without the yodelly Riordan squeaks.
 ch83575 wrote:
Alanis is one of my very, very rare PSDs.  I didn't understand why people liked her in the 90's, and it is totally incomprehensible to me why anybody would continue to subject themselves, willingly, to her voice more than two decades later.
 
That's okay. Some artists are inherently polarizing and it's not too difficult to see why Alanis is in that list. If there's anything I've learned here it's that you don't have to understand why others like stuff you don't (though, I'll admit, it's nice to know if it can be articulated), but it's helpful if you understand that it happens all the time. 

For instance, I see you've got a Richard Thompson (another obvious polarizer) song in your "10" list, which is fine. That song's a one for me as it happens, while this one, for me, is an eight. Which says absolutely nothing about the two of us other than that tastes differ and that's as it should be. Peace.

Addendum (corrected): About the film, if you're interested, I agree with those who recommend the original German version (Wings of Desire) over City of AngelsCity of Angels doesn't match the atmosphere or emotional impact of Wim Wenders' Wings.
Alanis is one of my very, very rare PSDs.  I didn't understand why people liked her in the 90's, and it is totally incomprehensible to me why anybody would continue to subject themselves, willingly, to her voice more than two decades later.

 
 GuiltyFeat wrote:
Fine song, aggressively awful movie.

 
indeed. a horrible remake of the fabulous Wings of Desire.
 GuiltyFeat wrote:
Fine song, aggressively awful movie.

 Agressively awful song... didn't see the movie.  Just kiddin', but it is not favorite.  I'll mail you the CD for free if you like!


great song thank you
Fine song, aggressively awful movie.
Never noticed before that Alanis and Dolores O'Riordan have some vocal stylizing in common. 
Don't ride your bike with your eyes closed! 😬
Wow, I never realised how disturbing those strings are towards the end. Not at the very end, in particular, but immediately before the lull, if that's the right word for it. If you miss them, they don't come back with half as much force, when they're combined with the wandering guitar, heading for the end of the track - that's rather an anticlimax by comparison. Still, overall, not sure how much I like this track, not one of her best, but even when she's not at her best she's pretty damn good. Give it another 5 years (or 5 listens, whichever comes first - quite possibly together!) and maybe...
yuck.
Sucko barfo to the max
Whining and super annoying, please stop!
And why not a 9. Its a killer song.
Waiting till this song ends up. Time for a coffee mug. Stay tuned ⌛️
Exactly what Alanis Morissette is in my house — uninvited. 

 Yep

 

DavidS_UK wrote:

It's gone from an interesting sound to a painful whine in a surprisingly small amount of airplays!

 


It's gone from an interesting sound to a painful whine in a surprisingly small amount of airplays!
 moodfood wrote:
I liked her early unique sound, then it quickly flamed out..

 
I didn't like her unique sound, and was glad when it quickly flamed out.
 Grammarcop wrote:
I'm going to go pour acid in my ears now.

 
I'm with ya but i'm adding pencil erasers in my ears so nothing leaks out.
Crappy movie, crappy male actor and whiny crappy song. 
Works for me. 
I'm going to go pour acid in my ears now.
 kellsens wrote:
And it's a 10 from brazilian jury. 

chris_the_man wrote:
This song deserves better then an average of 6.4,a 9 from the Amsterdam jury
 


 

"Quite Likeable" from my cubicle's jury
 leafmold wrote:
She has nice teeth. But I would prefer if she kept her mouth shut.

 
lol
I always thought this was one her best tunes.
One of the very few songs by Alanis slightly worth listening too. Slightly..
I have heard some remixed versions that were much better. Im wondering if she recorded a special version for the soundtrack.
She has nice teeth. But I would prefer if she kept her mouth shut.
Advil, anyone?
Huh, huh ... huh, huh ... She said "flat turd."
painful to listen to her vocal histrionics passing as singing... 
And it's a 10 from brazilian jury. 

chris_the_man wrote:
This song deserves better then an average of 6.4,a 9 from the Amsterdam jury
 

 Antigone wrote:
Song is good, but that movie was a pale imitation of the original German movie, Wings of Desire.

 
Wings of Desire (the original) is my wife's all-time favorite film.  She has shown me why it is a masterpiece.  (She also has a classics background ... so she would also appreciate your handle.)
Bombast done exceedingly well.  Love it.
It's hard to do this and not suck. Thank you Alanis for not sucking on this.
I hope Ms. Morissette finds the peace she is looking for. 
Song is good, but that movie was a pale imitation of the original German movie, Wings of Desire.
 lemmoth wrote:
I think this tune is unappreciated on this site.  An 9 to bump it up.
 
Agreed! And a 9 from me as well.
I think this tune is unappreciated on this site.  An 9 to bump it up.
"What you on about Morissette? I brought a keg!"
GenX Celine Dion
This song deserves better then an average of 6.4,a 9 from the Amsterdam jury
 SmileOnADog wrote:


Imagine how some of us feel about the 70's.  Ouch.  *tremor*   *looking for misplaced reading glasses*
 
Progressive lens my friend.  That is the way to go.  Now if I can only keep those damn kids off the lawn.
Why are the beautiful ones always insane? 
haunting and amazing.
like most Americanized movies, the original Wim Wenders version is better...but this soundtrack is very nice!
this is an excellent song! 
 Businessgypsy wrote:
Overwrought and arch is dandy in artful doses, but this is a COSTCO bulk package.
 

 
I still give it a 9. For some reason. 
 MiracleDrug wrote:

despite my finite tolerance for Alanis...this is EASILY her best song...

 
agreed. 
Whaddya say we go another year without hear from her again?  Just a thought...    Beat
Better actor than singer? Oh hey!  Ouch!  She had a nice starkers scene in Weeds though...
One of my favorite soundtracks of all time. Seriously.
Hehe...hehe... she said "Flat turd."
 auburntigerrich wrote:
Wowzers, has it really been 13 years?  Man...

I tell friends of mine (around my age) that it's weird when you think about how 90's music is no longer the music from the "last decade".  The 90's are the new 80's now... *shiver*

Still love it.  The crescendo at the end does it for me.

 

Imagine how some of us feel about the 70's.  Ouch.  *tremor*   *looking for misplaced reading glasses*
I kind of dug the scene where all the "angels" gather at the seashore to watch the sun set or rise (been a while). 
I happen to like this song, and some other music on this "soundtrack." (Notice is says "and inspired by.") It's the MOVIE I can't stand! Another cheapening Hollywood theft of a brilliant foreign film ("Wings of Desire"). Like using Spaghettios to imitate homemade linguine with olive oil, fresh tomatoes and garlic! Hrumph.
 
 vandal wrote:

What an aging, overly produced Led Zeppelin might sound like if they had become a Vegas lounge act with a narcissistic female vocalist. . .

{#Shifty}
 

Hilarious!  Narcissistic?  Angst-ridden and self-absorbed is how I would have politely described her public persona. But then that describes about 1/3 of young North American females, no?

 

 



Its the voice! 
Well, I like it.
 michaelgmitchell wrote:
...Alanis has her place in 'rock' history. That can't be argued...
 No argument from me, here's the moment:

OK, this is a pretty theatrical song, so points there. Overwrought and arch is dandy in artful doses, but this is a COSTCO bulk package.


despite my finite tolerance for Alanis...this is EASILY her best song...


 vandal wrote:

What an aging, overly produced Led Zeppelin might sound like if they had become a Vegas lounge act with a narcissistic female vocalist. . .

{#Shifty}
  
Are you saying they didn't?

Very much like, very profound ! 
 michaelgmitchell wrote:
Whether you dig her or not, she broke the barrier in the mid-90s, saying things young gals had always wanted to say - but couldn't. Those who have followed owe her a big tip of the hat. Yes, she might be a bit pretentious lyrically from time to time (and I don't like everything I've heard from her), but she's explored her musical tastes without apology. Alanis has her place in 'rock' history. That can't be argued.
 
{#Clap}  Well said!

Rarely do I have such a negative raction to an RP song but...this one is really, as they say, bad fir the ears.
 vandal wrote:

What an aging, overly produced Led Zeppelin might sound like if they had become a Vegas lounge act with a narcissistic female vocalist. . .

{#Shifty}
 
Haha, I didn't get the negative reaction that you felt. Actually, I came here here to compliment the cool Zep vibe! lol

Some of these sound track disks are pretty good.  This one is very good.

What an aging, overly produced Led Zeppelin might sound like if they had become a Vegas lounge act with a narcissistic female vocalist. . .

{#Shifty}


She should do a duet with fellow Canuck Loreena McKennitt. I can hear it.
I really wanted to like this one, but it's too overdone.
YES!

Ahhh, and can you hear the counterpoint of my own head, hitting my wall? Euuuuwwwww.