Is that all there is?
Is that all there is?
If that's all there is,
My friends,
Then let's keep dancing...
Let's break out the booze,
And have a ball.
If that's all,
There is...
I'm having this played as my body is receiving the Shake-n-Bake treatment
You sad old queens who gorge at the trough of all the old 60s and 70s camp are a sorry bunch.
Why, R3? Because you don't know what they're talking about?
To me it's not so much 'depressing' as the voice of experience. It's saying, "yes, life is disappointing--there's no heaven or hell, no meaning, no big dramatic revelation--but that's all the MORE reason to break out the booze, have a ball and keep dancing."
It's certainly not a youthful "yippee! Life is beautiful!" but neither is it a "life is awful so put a whole in your head" sentiment either imho.
The camp factor is another matter, but I love it love it love it either way.
btw: For fans of the song... after it was a hit, Peggy Lee recorded a less-famous album of similar material by the song writers Lieber and Stoller called "Mirrors." It's a very strange but fascinating collection of similar "high-concept" songs (not sure what to call them. Art songs? Camp disasters?).
Anyway, the original album didn't have "Is That All There Is?" on it since it was a hit earlier, but reissues place it on there as the first track and it's a great album.
I remember Homer singing this on "the Simpsons."
And r3, the most decrepit queen in the world lingering on the oldest, campiest bullshit ever is STILL less pathetic than the queen trying to gain a bit of mileage by making bitchy comments about it. (That'd be you btw).
Amy Winehouse should have covered this before she expired.