How a Piece of 19th Century Fiction, a Disenchanting Love, the Circus, and More Inspired Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?”

In 1967 the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller already had a string of hits in their book, from Big Mama Thornton and Elvis Presley‘s hit “Hound Dog,” the chart-topping “Kansas City,” and the Coasters’ hits “Searchin’” and “Yakety Yak.” The duo continued writing more hits for Presley, including “Jailhouse Rock” and “Don’t” and more, along with Ben E. King’s classics “Stand By Me,” and “Spanish Harlem.”

After selling their Red Bird label in 1966, Leiber and Stoller continued working independently and wrote the spoken-word piece “Is That All That There Is?” in 1967. “Is That All There Is?” was oriignally written for Marlene Dietrich, who turned it down. After an unsuccessful pitch to Barbra Streisand, British actress and singer Georgia Brown was the first to perform the song on television and suggested some singing parts in the spoken-word piece, before Leslie Uggams recorde it for her 1968 album What’s An Uggams?

A year later, the song completely transformed when Peggy Lee got a hold of it.

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Thomas Mann, Dancing, and Booze

The song was initially inspired by the 1896 short fiction by German writer Thomas Mann, Disillusionment. Even its titled was pulled from a line in the story: “Is that all there is to it?”  

Most of the lyrics were written around Mann’s essay, following a person walking around the Piazza di San Marco in Venice, Italy, questioning the disappointments in his life. For the song, two vignettes were pulled from Disillusionment, and Leiber came up with a third centered around the circus.

“When it was played for Peggy, she said, ‘That’s my life story. How did you know all that?’” recalled Stoller in a 2024 interview. “She said, ‘If you give this song to anybody else, I’ll break all your pencils.’”

Half spoken-word and half-sung narrative, Lee delivered the song as a disenchanted retelling of events that move through three stages in one’s life, beginning with the loss of a family home in a fire.

I remember when I was a little girl
Our house caught on fire
I’ll never forget the look on my father’s face as he
Gathered me up in his arms and
Faced through the burning building out on the pavement

And I stood there
Shivering in my pajamas and
WAtched the whole world go up in flames
And when it was all over
I said to myself
Is that all there is to a fire?

Then, there’s the disatisfaction from a visit to the circus as a child.

And when I was twelve years old
My daddy took me to the circus
The greatest show on Earth
There were clowns and elephants, dancing bears
And a beautiful lady in pink
Tights flew high above our heads

And as I sat there watching
I had the feeling that something was missing
I don’t know what, but
When it was over
I said to myself
Is that all there is to the circus?

[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Peggy Lee Wrote]

Lee also talks through heartbreak, and questions love in the end.

And then I fell in love
With the most wonderful boy in the world
We’d take long walks by the river or
Just sit for hours gazing into each other’s eyes
We were so very much in love

Then one day
He went away
And I thought I’d die, but I didn’t
And when I didn’t
I said to myself
Is that all there is to love?

The lyrics are meant to evoke some contemplations about life as well as frivolity and laughter. At the end of each spoken word piece, Lee sings Is that all there is? and decides on dancing and booze as the remedy in each chorus, the only singing portion in the song.

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

Produced by Randy Newman, Lee’s album Is That All There Is? also features her renditions of the George Harrison-penned Beatles classic “Something” and Neil Diamond‘s “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show.” 

“Is That All There Is?” which Lee finished recording on January 29, 1969, became another top 40 hit for her peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Adult Contemporary chart. It was also Lee’s first hit in more than a decade since “Fever” and earned her a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance in 1970. 

After its release, “Is That All There Is?” was covered by Tony Bennett and many others decades later, includng Chaka Khan, PJ Harvey and John Parish, Bette Midler, and many more. But there was one classic delivery of “Is That All There Is?” for Stoller, who said: “Peggy’s is really the essential version of that song.” 

Throughout her 70-year career, Lee, who died in 2002 at 81, earned more than 100 charting hits, wrote more than 270 songs (complete Peggy Lee discography), recorded more than 1,100 masters.

“What are you going to do when you love music,” Lee once said. “You can’t stop.”

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