Is That All There Is?

"Is That All There Is?", a song written by American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the 1960s, became a hit for American singer Peggy Lee and an award winner from her album of the same title in November 1969. The song was originally performed by Georgia Brown in May 1967 for a television special. It was first recorded by disc jockey Dan Daniel in March 1968, but this was an unauthorized recording that, while played on Daniel's own radio show, went unissued at the songwriters' request. The first authorized recording was by Leslie Uggams in August 1968. Then came the hit Peggy Lee version in August 1969, followed by Guy Lombardo in 1969 and Tony Bennett on 22 December 1969.^[2]

Peggy Lee's version reached number 11 on the

The orchestral arrangement on the song was composed by Randy Newman, who played the piano in the slower introduction section,^[3] and who also conducted the orchestra.^[4]

Theme

The lyrics of this song are written from the point of view of a person who is disillusioned with events in life that are supposedly unique experiences. The singer tells of witnessing her family's house on fire when she was a little girl, seeing the circus, and falling in love for the first time. After each recital, she expresses her disappointment in the experience. She suggests that we "break out the booze and have a ball—if that's all there is," instead of worrying about life. She explains that she'll never kill herself either because she knows that death will be a disappointment as well. The verses of the song are spoken, rather than sung. Only the refrain of the song is sung. In most arrangements of the song, most notably in Peggy Lee's version, the music recalls the style of

The song was inspired by the 1896 story "Disillusionment" by Thomas Mann. Jerry Leiber's wife Gaby Rodgers (née Gabrielle Rosenberg) was born in Germany and lived in the Netherlands. She escaped ahead of the Nazis, settling in Hollywood where she had a brief film career. Rodgers introduced Leiber to the works of Thomas Mann.^[6] The lines "Is that all there is to a fire?/Is that all there is/is that all there is?" and three of the events in the song (the fire, failed love, imagined death) are based on the narrator's words in Mann's story; the central idea of both the short story and the song are the same.^[7]

Leiber and Stoller first gave the song to Georgia Brown to perform for a BBC television special in 1967. She asked Leiber and Stoller to add a sung chorus alongside the spoken verses. Leiber and Stoller attached a chorus they had written for another song, but realized the chorus did not fit, so wrote lyrics and music for a new chorus which miraculously fit together without any changes. While Brown performed the song on television as planned, it was never recorded as a single.^[8]

Leiber and Stoller considered giving the song to Kurt Weill's widow Lotte Lenya or German kabarett singer Claire Waldoff (who, apparently unbeknownst to Leiber and Stoller, was deceased), but decided that Marlene Dietrich was the only name American record companies would consider well-known enough. However, after a meeting with Leiber and Stoller, Dietrich rejected the song. Barbra Streisand's manager was sent the song but never responded.^[9] The song first appeared commercially in 1968, on Leslie Uggams's album What's an Uggams? alongside other Leiber and Stoller songs. Leiber and Stoller intended to incorporate "Is That All There Is?" into a musical version of International Wrestling Match, an off-Broadway play by Jeff Weiss; although the project never materialized, the initial releases of the song's sheet music and of the Peggy Lee single were labeled as "From the forthcoming production International Wrestling Match".^[10] Leiber and Stoller then offered the song to Peggy Lee, who enthusiastically accepted, and gave them the idea to have Randy Newman arrange the song.^[11]

During the session, Lee delivered an impressive performance on take 36 that the engineer forgot to record, so one more take was needed. Capitol Records was reluctant to release it, but after Joey Bishop was not interested in booking any of Capitol's acts except Lee for his show, they agreed.^[12] Despite the song's success, Lee was not then interested in further collaboration with Leiber and Stoller. Leiber had also expressed some disappointment over Lee saying "I’m not ready for that final disappointment" during the recording instead of the originally written lyric of "I’m in no hurry for that final disappointment."^[13]

Chart history

Cover versions

This song has been covered by Chaka Khan, Giant Sand, Sandra Bernhard, John Parish and PJ Harvey, Alan Price, The Bobs, Firewater, The New Standards, The Tiger Lillies, Amanda Lear, Joan Morris, James Last and Camille O'Sullivan among others. In 1971 Ornella Vanoni recorded an Italian version (text written by Bruno Lauzi) with the title literally translated as "E poi tutto qui ?"; in 1972 Hildegard Knef released a German version called "Wenn das alles ist".^[19]

Dorothy Squires recorded the song for her 1977 release Rain Rain Go Away.^[20] Bolcom and Morris included a version on their 1978 album Other Songs by Leiber & Stoller.^[21] Kate and Mike Westbrook covered it for their 2009 CD allsorts.^[22]

In 1970, Diana Ross performed a version of the song at a performance at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles with altered lyrics. That recording was not released, as writers Leiber and Stoller presumably blocked it. The Ross version, however, can be played on YouTube.^[23]

Another version with altered lyrics, by No wave singer Cristina, was available briefly as a single on the ZE and Island labels.^[24] in 1980. However, Leiber and Stoller sued and were able to get it suppressed for some time. Produced by August Darnell (Kid Creole), this version was eventually re-issued in 2004 with the songwriters' blessing, as a bonus track on a Cristina compilation album.

Bette Midler included both audio and video versions on her 2005 DualDisc Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook.

Elizabeth Gillies, best known for playing the role of Jade West on Victorious, released a cover video on 30 March 2014.^[25]

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1969 (U.S.)

References