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You Oughta Know – Alanis Morissette  

Canadian-born Alanis Morissette has won twelve Juno awards, seven Grammy Awards, and has sold more than 55 million albums worldwide. She is not only an accomplished singer, she has also starred on stage, television and film

Her first venture into the entertainment was on the Canadian children’s television show, You Can’t Do That on Television from 1986 – 1990. She has been in shows like The Vagina Monologues, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and several other productions. But she is best known for songs like “You Oughta Know“, with its scathiong, explicit lyrics.

You Oughta Know

A common rumor about the song is that it was written about Morissette’s one-time boyfriend Dave Coulier of the television sitcom Full House. According to an ABC News article, “the angst-ridden hit ‘You Oughta Know’ was about Alanis’ relationship with Coulier.” The Urban Legends Reference Pages have not endorsed this rumor as true, and in fact there are other celebrities who have been rumored to be the lover in the song, including:

• Bob Saget, Coulier’s co-star on Full House (appearing on the Opie & Anthony show on June 28, 2006, Saget denied ever having a relationship with Morissette and tended to agree with speculation that the song was about Coulier)

• Hockey player Doug Gilmour of the Toronto Maple Leafs. When Keith Olbermann used to work for the ESPN program SportsCenter, he would say during Toronto highlights relating to Gilmour, “Here’s this for Alanis’s pain.”

• Hockey player Mike Peluso of the New Jersey Devils (he played for the Ottawa Senators in 1992-93).

• Actor Matt LeBlanc, who appeared in the video for Morissette’s single “Walk Away” (1991)

• Musician Leslie Howe, the producer of Morissette’s first two albums in the early 1990s

• 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.’ He said she used to do that all the time.”

I want you to know that I’m happy for you
I wish nothing but the best for you both

An older version of me, is she perverted like me?
Would she go down on you in a theatre?
Does she speak eloquently?
And would she have your baby?
I’m sure she’d make a really excellent mother

‘Cos the love that you gave that we made
Wasn’t able to make it enough for you to be open wide, No
And every time you speak her name,
Does she know how you told me you’d hold me
Until you died, ’till you died
But you’re still alive

And I’m here to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It’s not fair to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know

You seem very well, things look peaceful
I’m not quite as well
I thought you should know
Did you forget about me, Mr. Duplicity?
I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner
It was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced
And are you thinking of me when you fuck her?

‘Cos the love that you gave that we made
Wasn’t able to make it enough for you to be open wide, No
And every time you speak her name,
Does she know how you told me you’d hold me
Until you died, ’till you died
But you’re still alive

And I’m here to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It’s not fair to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know

Cause the joke that you laid on the bed that was me
And I’m not gonna fade as soon as you close your eyes
And you know it

And every time I scratch my nails down someone else’s back
I hope you feel it
Well can you feel it?
And I’m here to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It’s not fair to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know

• Audio from the 1995 Jagged Little Pill album:

Other Songs Posted for this Artist

• September 29, 2008 -- Hand In My Pocket ~ Alanis Morissette