Is That All There Is

Every now and again something terrible happens and I am reminded of this song. Do they even write philosophical songs like this now? Maybe they(?) do, but there is something much more powerful in not telling people but showing them as this song does.

Is That All There Is by Peggy Lee – the first version is much better quality and you can really hear the Weil influence in the arrangement of the chorus. The second was posted as a reference to another video in this post.

Is That All There Is by PJ Harvey – another more broken down lounge take on it. This was on the soundtrack to the wonderful film Basquiat where I first heard this song – before the Peggy Lee version which I later heard on the radio.

…on a slight detour:

Rocket Man by William Shatner – this is more of a joke but note how Shatner borrows from the same stylistic two person perspective as Peggy Lee.

Two from Sub Pop

…I happened upon Sub Pop records’ Youtube channel and saw a few videos I hadn’t seen. The first is a really decent version of Sleeping Lessons from the last Shins album. In my mind this was the standout track from that last album – by far. Anyway, I think it’s really cool that the intro sounds come from those wind tube thingies(I assumed they were synth lines). I’m a sucker for when a band makes a great sound out of something relatively mundane and unmusical like when the Arcade Fire used a page ripping from a book as the sound where jazz brushed might have been used on the snare drum or when Cibelle built the entire drum track of one song(Mad Man Song) from the normal clank of a cup and saucer over breakfast.

Sleeping Lessons by the Shins (live in rehearsal)

…the next clip is just silly. These guys have a really funny sitcom where they always pull together really high quality tongue in cheek songs that draw from the pop music tradition. I need to get the whole series on DVD as I have really enjoyed every episode I have seen.
Ladies of the World by the Flight of the Conchords