The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography And Videography:
Observations About The Song "Is That All There Is?"
by Iván Santiago-Mercado
Generated on Aug 31, 2011
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I. Scope And Authorship
This essay focuses on Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller's composition "Is That All There Is?" and the hit recording that Peggy Lee made of it. All commentary is based on my own research and thoughts on the matter. I am also responsible for the full redaction of the text. (My apologies for the somewhat obvious and pedantic tenor of the two previous sentences. After repeatedly seeing portions of this discography 'quoted' elsewhere in the internet, without any attribution, I am compelled to stress matters of authorship.) My main sources for this essay were the autobiographies of Leiber & Stoller and Peggy Lee, along with interviews that they have given over their lifetimes.
II. Thomas Mann's "Disillusionment"
The original inspiration for the song "Is That All There Is?" was a short story that Jerry Leiber read on the recommendation of Gaby Rodgers, his wife at the time (and a German by birth). Titled Disillusionment, it was written in 1896 by German author -- and 1929 Nobel Prize winner -- Thomas Mann. Leiber became fascinated with the story's insight into what he has described as "the existential hole that sits in the center of our souls."
In essence, Disillusionment is a philosophical essay posing as short fiction. The narrator of the story is intrigued by the habits of a stranger who regularly strolls around the Piazza di San Marco, apparently a favorite haunt of the narrator's. Each day, the stranger walks up and down the plaza while muttering and smiling to himself. When they finally meet, the stranger embarks into a long meditation and exposition on how life is nothing but a series of disappointments. Using a few autobiographical vignettes to illustrate his point, the malcontented stranger argues that our life's experiences never live up to expectations.
III. Leiber's & Stoller's Creation Of "Is That All There Is?"
Jerry Leiber took two biographical vignettes from Thomas Mann "Disillussionment" (home fire, conjugal abandonment) and rewrote them into verse. He also created a third vignette (circus excursion). Leiber set all three verses in parlando, thereby establishing an even closer connection between his own creation and his inspiration.
When Mike Stoller first heard the three verses that his songwriting partner had written, the composer felt that they "ached with the bittersweet irony of the German cabaret." Hence Stoller set them to music inspired by the works of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht.
IV. "Is That All There Is?" Travels To Great Britain And Meets Georgia Brown
At this point, Leiber and Stoller received a request to write a song for a BBC special featuring Georgia Brown. Known for her overly dramatic readings of show tunes, the British singer-actress must have seemed an adequate candidate to recite the verses that Leiber had written. Brown approved of the spoken verses but requested the addition of a chorus, to be sung between verses. Thus, at the singer's request, Leiber & Stoller proceeded to create what would become the catchiest section of their song. Leiber borrowed the question "is that all there is?" from Mann's story but, like the circus vignette, the lines about dancing, 'boozing' and having a ball are his own concept.
V. "Is That All There Is?" Visits The American Labels
After the debut of "Is That All There Is?" in British television, Leiber and Stoller (or otherwise their song publishing company) plugged the song to various record labels. At Atlantic (the company with which Leiber & Stoller had the closest ties), Leslie Uggams recorded "Is That All There Is?" along with two other Leiber & Stoller compositions. All three numbers were included in her 1968 album What's An Uggams. At Columbia's subsidiary Epic, an artist by the name of Dan Daniels is also said to have recorded a version that is available on promotional copies sent to radio stations, but which otherwise has not been commercially released. Moreover, Leiber & Stoller made plans to include the song in a musical that was to be based on Jeff Weiss' Obie-winning play International Wrestling Match. But the musical was never produced, and neither Uggams nor Daniels made a dent with their respective versions.
VI. From Marlene Dietrich To Barbra Streisand: "Is That All There Is?" Searches For A Diva
"We wanted a record of the song interpreted by someone who understood this genre," asserted Leiber & Stoller in their autobiography. The genre in their minds was German cabaret, as popularized by Kurt Weill & Bertold Brecht. Not surprisingly, Lotte Lenya was the first vocalist considered. They also thought of Claire Waldorf, an actress with the Berliner Ensemble. Nevertheless, Leiber & Stoller promptly came to the realization that commercial American record companies were unlikely to embrace either choice. Hence the notion of approaching Lenya and Waldorf was summarily dismissed.
Still bearing in mind the song's inspiration in a German background, Leiber & Stoller settled on Marlene Dietrich, a celebrity with a greater potential to catch the interest of record companies. They proceeded to send a demo of the song to her. At the informal meeting that followed, Dietrich politely declined. While obliquely giving high praise to the song, she deemed it unsuitable for her act: "that song ... is who I am, not what I do."
Less bent on finding a German candidate to sing the song, Stoller thought next of Barbra Streisand. "She is an actress," he reasoned with Leiber, "let's send it to her." Although the song was indeed sent to Streisand's manager, no reply was ever forthcoming. Apparently, the manager did not deem the number remarkable enough to merit its mention to the singer. "When Streisand finally heard the song years later, she wanted to know why it had not been offered to her," the songwriters were eventually told.
VII. "Is That All There Is?" Makes Peggy Lee's Acquaintance
Finally, Leiber thought of Lee. "How about Peggy Lee?," he suggested to Stoller, "this song has Peggy written all over it." Or so is said in the Leiber & Stoller autobiography. Elsewhere, including Peter Stoller's excellent notes for the CD Peggy Lee Sings Leiber & Stoller, Leiber is quoted as having said, "the best singer out there is Peggy Lee ... but she doesn't sing these sort of pseudo-German translations; that's not her bag. But, let's send it to her anyway; she might dig it." The pair of New Yorkers were in luck. They didn't even have to seal, send and deliver a tape to Lee's headquarters in Los Angeles. It so happened that she was in town at the time, performing at the Copacabana club. Hence the songwriting team attended one of her concert performances, and then proceedeed to approach Lee at a post-performance party, giving her a demo right then and there. According to Leiber, a week later they received a most threatening call from the Scandinavian-American lady: "I will kill you if you give this song to anyone but me. This is my song. This is the story of my life."
Lee has corroborated that she received the song at the post-performance party and that for her it read like the story of her life. But she has also stated that the number which the songwriters really wanted her to sing was not "Is That All There Is?" but "Some Cats Know." I am inclined to trust her recollection. "Some Cats Know" is indeed a song that has Peggy all written over it, far more so than "Is That All There Is?". Presumably, the tape that Leiber and Stoller handed to Lee included both songss -- and perhaps other compositions of theirs, too. I imagine that the songwriters were not really expecting that "Is That All There Is?" would incite any interest from Lee; the singer's ultra-enthusiastic phone call must have been a very pleasant surprise for them. (Six years later, she would also record "Some Cats Know" as part of her album Mirrors, which Leiber & Stoller produced.)
Thus, after a couple of very early versions (1968) which had had little impact, and after shopping the song around for a while, "Is That All There Is?" was finally brought to Peggy Lee's attention by the songwriters themselves.
VIII. The Peggy Lee Recording Session
Lee, Leiber & Stoller came to an agreement: she would record "Is That All There Is?" and they would produce it. The two men flew to Los Angeles and a meeting with Lee was set up, to further discuss matters. The trio's basic plan was probably to hold a 45 session, in which two songs would be recorded for release as a single, one of them being "Is That All There Is?". As shown above, the standard "Me And My Shadow" was the other number chosen for the date, and for inclusion in the prospective single.
The recording session was held at United Recording Studio on January 24, 1969. As Leiber dramatically tells the story in Hound Dog: The Leiber And Stoller Autobiography, "[w]e had a reputation as demanding producers, so Peggy set the rules from the start. I'll do three takes, she said, and no more ... The initial takes weren't great. She had to ease her way into the mood and find that sweet spot. At take 10, she still didn't have it. But being a trouper, Peggy kept going. At take 15, I suspect that she took a belt because her takes were improving. Take 30 was good, but take 36 was pure magic. I looked at Mike and Mike looked at me and we could do nothing but jump up and down with joy. This was one of the greatest performances ever. Peggy had done it. We had done it. The enormous potential of this little song had been realized." (In various interviews, Leiber has similarly rated this performance as one of the two greatest takes that he ever produced in his career, the other one being Big Mama Thornton's performance of "Hound Dog.")
Continues Leiber: "Let's hear it back, I told the engineer. We waited. Silence. We waited a little longer. More silence. What's wrong?, asked Peggy. I'm dying to hear the last take. Then came the words that cut through me like a knife. I forgot to hit the record button, said the engineer. What do you mean you forgot to hit the record button?, I screamed at the top of my lungs. This has to be a f*ckin' prank! No one forgets to hit the record button. This was the greatest take in the history of takes! Stop joking! Let's hear it! Play the goddamn thing!"
"But there was nothing to play. Nothing to do. Nothing had been recorded. Killing this kid would have been too kind. Yet Peggy, bless her heart, was stoic. Guess I'll have to sing it again, she said bravely. And she did. Take 37 was nothing short of marvelous. That's the take the world knows today. She is melancholy, she's sultry, she's fatalistic, she is in tune, and she delivers the song with a wondrous sense of mystery. It is good -- it is, in fact, very, very good -- but it is not, nor will ever be, take 36."
The 37th take was thus used as the master, with various splices from the other takes -- particularly, splices of the spoken parts. The mastering and mixing process was performed by Leiber & Stoller with the involvement of a second engineer (Bill Halverson). Lee is not known to have been present during that process, which was completed over subsequent dates at a different studio (Wally Heider).
For other details about the date, see session dated January 24 & 29, 1969 in this page of the Peggy Lee sessionography.
IX. "Is That All There Is?": Peggy Lee Versus Capitol Records
Though recorded during the first month of 1969, Lee's Capitol master of "Is That All There Is?" was not issued until late 1969. Believing that it had no commercial potential, the record company resisted issuing it as a single. Capitol's brass was wrong, of course. Immediately after its release, Lee's record proved not only a solid mainstream hit but also a 'hot' topic in the contemporaneous press. Some time afterwards, it gave Lee a Grammy win, too. Still further, "Is That All There Is?" would become perennially associated with Lee (and, naturally, with songwriters Leiber & Stoller) in the ensuing decades.
Peggy Lee tells in her autobiography that "[w]hen I came to record Is That All There Is? there was resistance everywhere. They said it was too far out, they said it was too long, they said and they said ... So I went to [co-founder and ex-president of Capitol Records, by-then-retired] Glenn Wallichs with a demo record (something I hadn't done before), and Glenn seemed embarrassed. Peggy, you don't have to play a demo, you helped build this Capitol Tower. You just record anything you want. Delighted to hear, Jerry and Mike and I set about doing just that."
In their own autobiography, Leiber and Stoller muse that "for some reason [Capitol] didn't like it. At this point of her career Peggy wasn't selling records, and this one -- this existential treatise -- was hardly what the company wanted to hear." The songwriters' assertion that Lee was not selling records is an overstatement. While her record sales were nowhere near those of Capitol's most popular rock, folk, and neo-country acts of the day, neither were they at a nadir. (Another overstatement on the songwriters' part is their claim that "Is That All There Is?" was the biggest hit of Lee's entire career. Depending on how the superlative "biggest" is defined, that honor would have to go to one of her earlier million sellers and/or big top 10 hits.)
Adds Mike Stoller: "The company [i.e., Capitol] wanted to promote some of its new acts and hoped to get them on Joey Bishop's late-night TV show. Joey wasn't that interested in those artists, but agreed to host them if he could also get Peggy. Always cagey, Peggy saw her chance. I'll go on the Bishop show, she said, if you release 'Is That All There Is?' because that's the song I'm singing on the show. Capitol capitulated. They pressed up some 1,500 copies of the 45 and Peggy gave a brilliant performance on national television. The minute she took her bow and Joey kissed her cheek, the phones start ringing and ringing some more. The first pressing sold out within hours. Within days the song was being requested from coast to coast."
X. Leiber & Stoller Versus Peggy Lee, Part 1: Cat And Dogs
The working relationship between Peggy Lee, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (Lee and Leiber in particular) was sometimes akin to that of cats and dogs. Strong wills and divergent backgrounds seem to have been at play. The male songwriters have asserted that the female singer had a "mercurial temperament." According to Stoller, "Peggy was a woman given to extreme moods. There were times when she treated us with great respect and expressed even greater gratitude. Other times we'd go to the studio to discover that we were in the doghouse ... No explanations were given." On the flip side, Leiber's personality could be abrasive at times -- a circumstance that has been acknowledged by the songwriters themselves, and also by other acts who have worked with them. "Mike Stoller was an easy-going guy whereas Jerry Leiber was much more the pushy Building type," reminisced Gary Brooker, co-leader of the British rock group Procol Harum, who worked with the pair in 1975. "They had a lot of very strange habits and were very set in their ways .... They wanted us to do all these songs they'd had rejected by Peggy Lee! We'd say, can we do 'Baby I Don't Care?' They'd go, did we write that? No, let's do this one we wrote for Peggy. Mind you, they did produce 'Pandora's Box' which got us in the charts."
Lee's own perspective of their professional relationship is not on record, unfortunately. It is clear, however, that she was not fond of having others try to tell her what to do -- particularly when it came to her craft. (For an instance, consult my notes under a session dated November 14, 1962 in this page -- specifically, the note entitled Recording Session.) Later in her career, Lee would actually make occasional, passing comments about the difficulties of being an assertive woman in a male-dominated industry. Male egos can be easily bruised, she suggested.
XI. Jerry Leiber Versus Peggy Lee, Part 2: Waiting For Disappointment
In the songwriters' autobiography (and elsewhere), Leiber presents himself as a great fan and admirer of Lee. His deep admiration for singers such as Lee and Sinatra is clearly genuine, and has been life-lasting. He considers Lee's the definitive version of "Is That All There Is?" But, when it comes to her interpretations of his lyrics, Leiber does have a few bones of contention. Most notably (and understandably), Lee's change of one particular line of Is That All There Is? has always displeased him: at the recording session, "she had actually blown the last line, which indicated to me that, on the deepest level, she really didn't understand the song. The lyric reads, I'm in no hurry for that final disappointment. But Peggy said, I'm not ready for that final disappointment. Back in the studio, I didn't have the heart to tell her that, especially after the lost take. But the key to the song is in the concept of redemption. And that final line -- I'm in no hurry -- is, in fact, a joke. I mean, who is in a hurry for the final disappointment? Not being ready connoted a far more somber attitude and misses the irony. But whatever you might say about Peggy, she was a smart dame and a brilliant singer and, for all the travails, the song got over and gave her new life."
Leiber certainly has a point, although Lee actually found her own way of generating a joke out of that last line. When performing the song live, she would make a pause between the word "final" and the word "disappointment." Laughter from the audience would invariably ensue.
But the studio recording (the definitive version) was another matter. On record, Peggy Lee's interpretation is indeed thoroughly serious, -- and arguably devoid of irony, too. Given the playfulness and the sense of humor that comes through in many of Lee's other interpretations, the solemnity of her approach to "Is That All There Is?" could seem unusual. The approach is intentionally serious, however. As Lee shared with the songwriters after giving a listen to their demo, she felt that the song told "the story of her life." Taking that comment into account, we can speculate about the artist's reasons to change the final phrase (from I'm in no hurry to I'm not ready): it might have been an extension of her desire to reshape and tailor the song to her own mood -- within which the possibility of approaching death might have been no joke. In any case (and while I myself prefer Leiber's original line), Lee's choice strikes me as more in keeping with the persona that Lee's singing projected in non-upbeat numbers: adult-sounding, or grown-up (as opposed to the more jovial and casual demeanor implicit in I'm in no hurry).
XII. Peggy Lee Versus Jerry Leiber, Part 3: Is There More?
While Leiber was expressing his unhappiness with the approach to the final line, Lee was voicing her misgivings about the song's title -- or more specifically, about its implications. Intent on giving a hopeful tone to the question "is that all there is?," the singer consciously stressed some words over others. "My attitude is that there is more," Lee told the press at the time. Hence, she added at the time, her choice to interpret the song as a commentary about "the experience you go through in life that's necessary for growth." From Lee's perspective, the character (or she herself) might feel momentarily disillusioned, might wonder if that's all there is and might even spend some time "boozing and balling around," but what ultimately matters is that her spirit will not permanently shut down: eventually, after each experience, she will go back to her active quest for "more."
Lee's attempt at channeling a positive vibe did not carry over to general audiences. Contemporaneous press commentary alludes to listeners' complaints about the recording's allegedly nihilistic attitude. There were even tabloid allegations of suicides inspired by it. Over the years, the artist counter-reacted to the accusation of negativism by lightening the song's mood and message -- as suggested by an example which I provided in a previous paragraph. At concerts from the mid-1970s onwards, sometimes she would even add mocking lines (asides) to the song. Such asides proved very divisive among audience members. Upon hearing them, some patrons would laugh hard and heartily, while others would wait until after the show to express, in conversation, their disapproval to Lee: they yearned to hear the number in the sober, serious manner in which she had originally sung it.
Tellingly, the title of one the numbers that Peggy Lee composed for her 1983 autobiographical Broadway show reinforces her outlook on afterlife, and in the process answers the question posed by both Mann's "Disillussionment" and Leiber & Stoller "Is That All There Is?. The title: "There is More."
XIII. Reception Of "Is That All There Is?"
"Is That All There Is?" proved a resounding success immediately upon its release, thereby corroborating Peggy Lee's instincts about the song's appeal. For details about its chart and award successes, consult the notes under the session dated January 24 & 29, 1969 in this page of the Peggy Lee sessionography.
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