How about Creedence’s “Fortunate Son” (“Some Folks are Born Made to Wave the Flag”) being used to evoke a patriotic response, conveniently clipping off the rest of it:
Ooh, they’re red white and blue
And when the band plays “Hail to the Chief”
They point the cannon right at you …
Yes, I DO remember the alleged controversy over the song. But remember, in the news world, man bites dog is news, not dog bites man. The exception will always get much more coverage than the norm.
To state it again, what percentage of the listening public was represented by the protestors who thought it was literally an anti-short people song?
Springsteen’s from New Jersey. With that out of the way…
Irony comes in three flavors; Dramatic, Rhetorical, and Situational.
Rhetorical irony is, I think, the oldest kind. It’s simply saying the opposite of what you mean, so as to have greater rhetorical effect. For example, I could say that I’m opposed to such-and-such, but it might be more effective to say I support it, giving reasons clearly undermining that position. This form of irony is closely related to sarcasm, in which one also says the opposite of what one means, but does so bitingly, with intent to wound (if only slightly).
Dramatic irony is the type most pedants are thinking of when they complain about Alanis Morissette’s song. In dramatic irony, characters take actions that bring about consequences opposite those intended. Often, the audience knows things the characters don’t, and so the unintended consequences are foreshadowed, and are revealed with hilarious and/or painful inevitablity.
Situational irony is related to dramatic irony, and it’s what most people today mean when they say “ironic.” Situational irony contrasts an occurrence with its circumstances, in such a way that their coincidental nature is highlighted for humorous effect. It lacks the element of action and consequence that dramatic irony requires. An actor dying of food poisoning isn’t ironic; a health inspector dying of food poisoning is. A corrupt health inspector dying of food poisoning in a restaurant where he took a bribe to overlook unsanitary conditions is really ironic. In the song mentioned above, a number of plans are thwarted by circumstances that contrast a bit with the events. A man conquers his fear of flying: his plane crashes. A woman is on her wedding day (“happiest day of her life”): it rains. You are offered a ride, free: you’ve already paid for some other transportation. These events lack irony, not because of the “opposite consequences” problem, but because there’s not much contrast, not much coincidence (and not much humor, but never mind that). Really, what do black flies have to do with chardonnay? What does rain have to do with weddings? The plane crash, the free ride, the death row pardon, OK; those are somewhat ironic, but only by this third definition, which many don’t accept…
Walloon,
I have no idea what percentage of the listening public didn’t get the irony of “Short People.” I’m not implying that there is ANY ironic work that NOBODY gets. I was just looking for popular examples of irony that MANY people seemed to fail to grasp.
Based on the fact that there were actual protests over the song indicates to me that “Short People” certainly qualifies in this regard.
Simon and Garfunkel did a song called, “At The Zoo.” It was a playful romp about ethnic stereotypes. For example:
“The monkeys stand for honesty,
Giraffes are insincere,
And the elephants are kindly but
They’re dumb.
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages,
And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.
Zebras are reactionaries,
Antelopes are missionaries,
Pigeons plot in secrecy,
And hamsters turn on frequently…”
(At The Zoo, by Paul Simon, copyright 1967,1968) This is an excerpt, not the entire song.
Anyway, Simon got irate letters from zookeepers. He commented that it was great to have people understand his songs.
The problem with irony is that she often travels with her sisters jadedeness and cynicism.
I find it ironic that “Glory Days” (also from the Born in the U.S.A. album) gets played like it’s a good-time song. It’s about being a has-been, from what I can tell.
I konw what irony is, its like goldy or silvery, but with iron.
Not an ironic song, but certainly an ironic USE of a song was when Nissan used Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy” in a car ad a year or so ago.
Do you really want a song about dealing with the interpersonal aftermath of a bender to put your Altima, folks?
"please tell me Why
The car is in the front yard,
and I’m
Sleeping with my clothes on
Came in through the window last night
And you’re gone Gone "
and here are your keys, Jonny…
Yeah, it went right over their heads. 
I think it’s ironic that Green Day’s Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) gets played at sentimental, parting moments - I recall that the grade above mine at high school had it as their “theme.”
It’s called Good Riddance, people! Haven’t you noticed that? He’s obviously being bitter and sarcastic when he sings “I hope you had the time of your life.” Hardly appropriate for memorialising good times!
I think it’s ironic when brand new cars and trucks are advertised with 70’s cock rock. Led Zeppelin is so up to date. Ooh ooh yeah.
I think it’s ironic when brand new cars and trucks are advertised with 70’s cock rock. Led Zeppelin is so up to date. Ooh ooh yeah.
Ozzy’s song, “Suicide Solution” was anti-alcohol lament about the death of AC/DC’s Bon Scott. The word “solution” in the song was a wordplay on “solution” in the sense of a chemical solution. He was saying that alcohol and drug use was a slow way to kill yourself (“Wine is fine but whiskey’s quicker/ Suicide is slow with liqour”)
The song was totally misunderstood by PMRC types as advocating suicide. IIRC there was even a lawsuit alleging that some kid had killed himself while listening to the song, but the case was thrown out of court.
It’s also ironic that Ozzy, who was such a boogeyman in the eighties, was recently praised by Dan Quayle as a good example of a parent and was also an invited guest at a White House dinner.
I thing the MTV series has shown a lot of people what a harmless and good-hearted person that Ozzy really is.
Actually I always heard the title itself as ironic, since (I thought) it didn’t mean “good riddance” in the sense of “I’m glad you’re out of my life,” but instead in the sense of “this is a good parting.” I may be wrong.
Nametag, nice essay on irony; that’s got to be one of the most frequenly misused words in the language.
Thanks to Nametagfor an illuminating post. George Orwell said the best books tell you what you already know; similarly, this contribution helped put into focus and order the ideas I already had.
Here’s another example I think qualifies as lost irony: a year or two back Janis Jopin’s recording of “Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz” was used to sell…Mercedes-Benz.
I recall too that Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” was used at one time in a commercial for a very expensive luxury car. And “Happy Times Are Here Again” was used at one time to sell Volkswagens; it is possibly unfair of me, but it always got me to thinking of the political associations that song had when it was relatively new, and the political associations the Volkswagen had when it was new, back at that same time.
Similarly, a bank in Texas used to use “The Entertainer” in its advertisements. This piece is, of course, most conspicuously associated with the film The Sting, about folks who make their living cheating other people out of their money.
In the same way, actor Kevin McCarthy was, for a long-time the announcer who said “Merrill-Lynch is bullish on America” in commercials. There’s nothing wrong with that, except that he was playing a crooked banker on TV at the time he started.
Another example which has nothing much to do with music: in the early 80s Paul Rubenfeld (aka Paul Rebens, aka Pee Wee Herman) did a stage show for adults which parodied 50s children’s shows such as Pinky Lee’s. When it was turned into a weekly TV series it was broadcast as a Saturday morning kid’s show.
So would Bette Midler’s “From a Distance” be ironic or not?
Is anyone familiar with Trinity Broadcasting?
This evangelical television network regularly broadcasts sermons denouncing welfare programs; I once heard a preacher on the network state that it was “unChristian and unBiblical to take money from a person who works and give it to a person who doesn’t”. The crowd attending the sermon went wild with applause, not pausing to consider that the “the person who doesn’t” would include those widows and orphans mentioned so often in the New Testament.
Much of the theology preached by a great many Evangelical Christians appears, in fact, to track the thinking of Ayn Rand, who stated that “all charity is theft”. I once got into a stange discussion with a Born-Again Christian who worked for a local religious TV station and was convinced that Ayn Rand, an outspoken athiest, was Born-Again.
Following his death a few years ago, the family of Anton LaVey acknowledged that he had cribbed a good deal of his writing, which likewise denounced the idea of taking money from a person who works and giving it to a person who doesn’t, from Ayn Rand. This included large passages of his best-known work, The Satanic Bible.
LaVey was a victim of misunderstood irony a good deal of the time anyway. He had a famous falling out with his former disciple Michael Aquino after the latter stated he had received a visit from Satan. LaVey had to explain to him that their group, The Church of Satan, used the devil only as a metaphor and didn’t really believe in God or Satan.
“From a Distance” does not strike me as ironic. The fact that it was used as a kind of anthem (and an emotional sop) for people supporting the first Gulf War does strike me as ironic.