On "All I Really Want"

All I Really Want being the first song on the record was a no-brainer to me
Because it really encapsulated what the whole story was about the yearnings
It was writing this whole record in some sense is in a vacuum
So, All I Really Want was the last song we wrote for the record
And so it was a tying of the bow
It was an encapsulation and a big summary
Of everything that, that had been the experience of writing Jagged Little Pill
So, for me, I felt like it was the perfect introduction for what was to come

And when we were writing All I Really Want was when I got the call that
Guy Oseary at Maverick wanted to meet with me
And I was wearing sweatpants and I looked very, very dirty
And so I said, well, I can't, I'm wearing sweatpants
I can't show up to a meeting
And they said, well, this is the time to do it, so please figure it out
So I said, all right, well, I'll just show up in my sweatpants
And I did, and Guy heard, You Oughta Know, Perfect and Hand in My Pocket
Those are the three songs we played him

And he was doing the equivalent of backflips across the desk
And finally, someone got what I was doing
Because we had met with several different record companies
And they all turned it down, they all turned down what I was doing
So it did get to the point while I was writing that it was actually quite debilitating for
The artist part of me to write these songs and then have meetings
Waiting to hear whether people liked them or not
And it was really not conducive to my continuing to write with joy, frankly
So I stopped taking all meetings and then we just focused on writing the record
Which is for me what I would want to offer any artist is that insulation and protection