Pop Song 176 'Iris' Goo Goo Dolls 1998

Pop Song 176 'Iris' Goo Goo Dolls 1998

After completing the first-edit on the film City of Angels, co-producer Bob Cavallo and his music producer son Rob Cavallo decided to take along musical artists to a viewing to create the soundtrack. Bob took Alanis Morissette whilst Rob took the Goo Goo Dolls. The following morning Morissette called Rob, and asked him to produce the song "Uninvited" which she had written afterwards as a demo. Shortly afterwards that same day, John Rzeznik called Rob with a song he had written called "Iris", a power ballad.[7] In a 2013 interview with Songfacts, lead singer Rzeznik explained how he wrote the song:

"I was thinking about the situation of the Nicolas Cage character in the movie. This guy is completely willing to give up his own immortality, just to be able to feel something very human. And I think, 'Wow! What an amazing thing it must be like to love someone so much that you give up everything to be with them.' That's a pretty heavy thought."

Rzeznik named the song after country folk singer-songwriter Iris DeMent, after he noticed her name in a concert listing in the LA Weekly newspaper.