Is That All There Is?
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In live shows, freed from the requirements imposed by the songwriters, she would sometimes sing the song humorously, with some loony lines added, but the audience would regularly express discontentment -- they wanted the serious, downer treatment which also has its humorous side, even if it is black humor I certainly laughed in amusement the first 4 or 5 times that I heard it.
I do not really understand why it seems so important to find something positive and uplifting in it. They have wisely withheld comment, which I'm sure has contributed greatly to the song's seemingly ever-lasting appeal That sorta explained it for me. Granted, this can be said about almost any lyric or piece of art if one so desires - but this is relevant to the extreme in the case of "Is That All There Is? Peggy Lee's version reached number 11 on the U. In the " Children of a Lesser Clod " episode of The Simpsons , Homer sings a verse of the chorus when asked by Rod Flanders to "…sing that crazy song we love". If you can love work enough to take the dues you have to pay, it's worth it.
Or almost all of them. That was one reason why she became head-over-heels obssessed with the song when she first heard.
Meaning of Is That All There Is?
She did experience a fire that burned down her house, of course she had her love woes, etc. I don't think that's it.
Initially I agreed with you, but now I think it is more like "it will take a hell of a lot more than that to destroy me" The first time I heard the song I identified. I was always looking for something terribly dramatic and exciting to break the utter predictability and monotony of life there--everyone and everything was so nice, so proper but so within boundaries.
"Is That All There Is?", a song written by American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the s, became a hit for American singer Peggy Lee. In all of television history, has there ever been a musical cue more inevitable?.
I never heard anything particularly witty on T. Finally at lunch I couldn't stand it anymore and said to a girl, "Did you hear about the tornado last night? From what Miss Lee said, during her childhood she always had the feeling something was missing, though she couldn't say what.
Eventually she sure found out, didn't she. I remember when the song first came out when I was much younger, weren't we all? I listened to it with my parents. Mom had known Norma in Fargo during the early years. I asked her take on it. She said it didn't surprise her at all. She said something about a boyfriend that Norma had at the time she knew her and how he had broken her heart so. Of course Norma survived, as she survived other traumas growing up.
She said it was a realistic song from a person who had felt great pain and great pleasure. That sorta explained it for me.
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They tell a very funny story regarding the first time Peg heard the song; she called the duo and told them the song had to be sung by her and no one else. They said, "Sure, Peg, if you want it, it's yours. If anyone else sings this, I'll have you killed. However, it's obvious the song touched some very personal feelings in Peggy, borne of her own experiences. Love was not always kind to her, and the circumstances of her youth are legendarily bleak.
I find this song much more upbeat than say, "Where Did They Go? I was a fan of her voice as a child, listening to my copy of Disney's "Lady and the Tramp," and upon hearing this song in Martin Scorsese's "After Hours," I went out to buy a greatest hits. The rest is history.
No other song in Peg's repertoire is a better showcase for her ability to inhabit a song's lyric. Who can disbelieve she's done anything but lived the lyric when she says, with listless resignation, "And then, one day, he went away. And I thought I'd die Ya know, this song has come up in my memory quite a few times, and what I mean by that, is the 'first' experiences with people, situations, and events. I would remember relating to the feeling of the lyrics. Just last week, there was a fire in my apartment complex two doors down from me in the same building.
Thank God it was only in one apartment, and minor damage at that. When I saw the commotion going on and it was over, I said to myself too, "Is that all there is to a fire? The song is about disappointment. Doesn't sound positive to me! In fact, after my first intimate experience with someone, I silently asked myself "Is that all there is?
I totally agree with Mark that this is a song about disappointment, and it is sarcastic. I do not really understand why it seems so important to find something positive and uplifting in it.
- Is That All There Is? (Remastered) by Peggy Lee on Apple Music.
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- Meaning of Is That All There Is?!
- Is That All There Is??
Life is only positive and uplifting sometimes, most of times it is disappointing But nothing ever seems to. You live, you die and years from now, nobody is going to care or know who the hell you were. And the break out the booze is like No sense in getting all mellodramatic or whatever. Enjoy it while it is here and don't get all hung up. Eventually we are all going to kick off anyway. Ultimately, this song is about sadness that the great optimism that we had of life as kids and all the possibilities that await us There was an error. Also, the party at the end is not a jubilant party.
It has a undercurrent of sadness to it.
Flag JamesLove on December 07, I like your comment, but it seems she never had optimism, even when she was a young child. I think if she HAD seen a ghost, she might have said: General Comment But under the surface poignancy there is an ultimate optimism. Very subtle but this makes it what it is- a great, perceptive song. If that's all there is then what better reason to live your life to the full- to enjoy it?
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No Replies Log in to reply. It makes me chuckle now that we had the radio on as entertainment in the house back then. Color TV was still kind of a novelty even then, in Personally I think this song says a lot about the human tendency to have inflated expectations about life-you see it in many people. Gaby introduced Leiber to the works of Thomas Mann.
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One difference between the story and the song is that the narrator in Mann's story finally feels free when he sees the sea for the first time and laments for a sea without a horizon. Most of the words used in the song's chorus are taken verbatim from the narrator's words in Mann's story. In most arrangements of the song, most notably in Peggy Lee's version, the music recalls the style of Kurt Weill , typified by songs such as Alabama Song and Surabaya Johnny. In Ornella Vanoni recorded an Italian version text written by Bruno Lauzi with the title literally translated as "E poi tutto qui?
Is That All There Is? - Peggy Lee | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic
An altered version by No Wave singer Cristina was available briefly in However, it offended songwriters Leiber and Stoller, who sued and were able to get it suppressed for some time. Produced by August Darnell , a. Kid Creole, this version was eventually re-issued in , with the songwriters' blessing, as a bonus track on a Cristina compilation.
Elizabeth Gillies , best known for playing the role of Jade West on Victorious , released a cover video on 30 March Peggy Lee did a skit with Carol Burnett on The Carol Burnett Show in the early s, featuring a duet performance of the song that ends with Carol taking a fall. The John Parish and P. Harvey version appears on the soundtrack of the film Basquiat. In the " Children of a Lesser Clod " episode of The Simpsons , Homer sings a verse of the chorus when asked by Rod Flanders to "…sing that crazy song we love". Actress Hope Davis performs the song in the movie The Nines.
Immersive theater production Sleep No More features both the Peggy Lee and Tony Bennett versions of the song, lip-synced simultaneously by characters in different rooms.