Hidden Music Track - Alanis Morissette - Your House – Jagged Little Pill

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Has this ever happened to you? You buy an album or music CD and listen to it, but just as you are about to switch it off as the last track mentioned on the sleeve note track listings is over, an extra track kicks in, for which there is no mention on the CD cover or its inlay card. The reasons for mystery tracks vary. Often it is just an extra surprise for fans and listeners, like Easter egg DVD extras. Sometimes the track or at least that recording of it was disliked by the artistes or someone in the production team, so hiding information about it helps to get a track out there. Occasionally it may just be a mistake and oversight in preparing a record track list, too. A few fans probably miss such extra tracks entirely as they switch off a CD the second the last listed track plays, so they miss out on concealed gems left there to give extra value for money. This has to be one of the best such tracks. 1995’s Jagged Little Pill has two hidden tracks in a row, beginning with a reprise take on listed track You Oughta Know before plunging into a startling and even a little scary a cappella solo piece, Your House in which Morissette sings of a stalker-desire for home invasion, sneaking into someone’s home to touch their personal things, use their shower and be a part of their lives in secrecy, the very kind of secrecy reflected in the song’s absence from the track listings. It is a sinister song but also intensely beautiful. It has more focus and grasp of English than the album’s biggest hit, Ironic which proved the singer / composer had no idea what ironic actually means. The simplicity of Your House means it is a song that gets under your skin like a stalker getting under your bed-sheets, but it is a song you welcome once you discover it. Later and international prints of the CD may list the track properly now. Early copies don't. Arthur Chappell