ESLSongs

Discover “Murphy’s Law” with your ESL students with this song, Ironic, by Alanis Morissette. The lyrics of this song contain eleven different examples of situations which we could define as “Murphy’s Law”.

There is a suggestion on how to use this song in your ESL classes below, which includes practising the first conditional with your students, but for more ideas, click here.

Lyrics

Hey, I, I
Yeah, ah, ah
Yeah, I

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It’s a black fly in your Chardonnay
It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?

It’s like rain on your wedding day
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take
And who would’ve thought? It figures

Mr. Play-It-Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down, he thought
“Well, isn’t this nice”
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?

It’s like rain on your wedding day
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take
And who would’ve thought? It figures

Well, life has a funny way
Of sneaking up on you
When you think everything’s okay
And everything’s going right
And life has a funny way
Of helping you out
When you think everything’s gone wrong
And everything blows up in your face

A traffic jam when you’re already late
A “no smoking” sign on your cigarette break
It’s like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It’s meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?
A little too ironic, and yeah I really do think

It’s like rain on your wedding day
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take
And who would’ve thought? It figures

And yeah, well, life has a funny way
Of sneaking up on you
And life has a funny, funny way
Of helping you out
Helping you out

Suggested activity: discuss the examples of Murphy’s Law

Download this exercise (PDF)

Are you familiar with Murphy’s Law?
What does this phrase mean? If something can go wrong, it will go wrong.

Have you ever been in a situation where the worst possible scenario has happened? For example; have you ever forgotten to take an umbrella, and then it started to rain?

Look at the 10 phrases below and match the first halves with the second halves:

If someone gives you good advice… If you are relaxing with a glass of wine… If you meet the man of your dreams… If you need a knife… If you take a long-distance flight… If you want to have a cigarette… If you win the lottery… If you’re late… If you’re getting married… Immediately after you buy a bus ticket…

…he will be married …it will rain …someone will offer to take you there for free …the plane will crash …there will be a “no-smoking” sign …there will be a big traffic jam …there will be a fly in it …you’ll die the next day …you’ll ignore it …you’ll only find spoons in the drawer

Now listen to the song and see if you got the phrases right, and put them in the order that you hear them in the song.
Have any of these things happened to you?

Think of a Murphy’s law outcome for each of these scenarios:

• If you wash your car…
• If you are in a slow queue at the supermarket, and you decide to change queues…
• If you get tired of waiting for a bus, and you decide to walk to work…
• The moment you get in the shower…
• The moment you arrive home from doing the shopping…
• If you are spreading butter on your toast, and you drop the toast…

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Alanis Morissette

Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter and musician known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. She began her music career in Canada in the early 1990s with two dance-pop albums. In 1995, she released the alternative rock album Jagged Little Pill, which sold more than 33 million copies globally and propelled her to become a cultural phenomenon. Morissette won the 1996 Grammy Award for Album of the Year among other accolades, and the album was adapted into a 2018 rock musical. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has Jagged Little Pill on their 200 Definitive Albums list, and it appeared on various editions of Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” guide. Its lead single, “You Oughta Know”, was also included on Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.