¡Que Vida!
| "¡Que Vida!" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Que Vida cover.jpg
US issue
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| Single by Love | ||||
| from the album Da Capo | ||||
| B-side | "Hey Joe" | |||
| Released | March 1967 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1966 at RCA Studios | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:37 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Writer(s) | Arthur Lee | |||
| Producer(s) | Paul A. Rothchild | |||
| Love singles chronology | ||||
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"¡Que Vida!" is a song written by Arthur Lee and first released in 1967 by the band Love. It was released both on Love's album Da Capo and as a single, backed with "Hey Joe". It has also been included on several Love compilation albums.
The song's title is Spanish for "What a Life", though the working title for the song was "With Pictures and Words".[1] The lyrics, involving topics such as death and reincarnation, suggest to Hoskyns "bad-trip paranoia" and to Greenwald "a psychedelic state of mind".[2][3] Music critic Richie Unterberger claims that in the song "Lee's Johnny Mathis inclinations start to flower in a series of question and answer lyrics."[4] The melody is based on the 1965 song "Lifetime of Loneliness" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.[1][5][6] It employs a bossa nova rhythm, described by author Bob Cianci as a "lilting Latin rhythm."[2][7] It also incorporates sound effects such as sleigh bells, merry-go-round music and a popping champagne cork.[1][8] Arthur Lee biographer John Einerson describes Lee's vocal tone on the song as "mellow".[1] As described by author Barney Hoskyns, the song uses "Latin rhythms and cool jazz shadings to fashion a kind of spaced-out MOR."[3] Music critic Fredrik Eriksen feels the song sounds like a mixture of The Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane.[9]
Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald regard "¡Que Vida!" as a "true groundbreaking composition for Arthur Lee" in the way the allows the song to flow freely in the direction it wants to go.[2] Greenwald also notes that although the chords always resolve, they go in surprising directions.[2] Edna Gundersen and Ken Burns of USA Today described the song as "summery jazz-pop".[10] Sean Elder of Salon calls the song "whimsical" and notes that it "almost seems like a parody of a hippie song, punctuated with what sounds like a pop gun."[11]
References
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