Precious Illusions

Album: Under Rug Swept (2002)
Charted: 53
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Songfacts®:

  • The second single from Under Rug Swept, this bittersweet tune is about leaving behind the idealistic fantasies of childhood, such as being rescued by a knight in shining armor and living happily ever after. In an interview with Yahoo! Music, Morissette explained: "As I evolve and as I grow older, a lot of the things I thought to be truths when I was younger just really aren't, and that's disillusioning. And there is a grief and a loss of sorts that happens when I segue from one awareness to another. And that's what I was singing about on that song."
  • In the album's track-by-track commentary, Morissette elaborated on the lyric, "I want to decide between survival and bliss," saying, "Basically I'm talking about the difference between really being alive and really embracing the reason why I'm here on this earth versus my just being asleep and sleep walking and accepting the status quo and accepting somewhat of a suffering mentality to being here. It really is my responsibility to distinguish the difference between the two and choose which one I want. It's so easy for me to want to not take responsibility for my life and relinquish it and look outside of myself for the answers that I know very well are within me. It's so scary to be silent and it's so scary to go within, until I do it. And once I'm doing it, I just wonder why I wasn't doing this all the time. So that decision to be fully alive is one that is preceded by some pretty intense decisions and some choices and responsibility-taking that at times can be very intimidating, again, before I do it."
  • This was used on Curb Your Enthusiasm in the 2002 episode "The Terrorist Attack."
  • This features Eric Avery, former bass guitarist of Jane's Addiction, on bass and Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots on guitar.

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