| Cover: | Que_Vida_cover.jpg |
| Caption: | US issue |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Love |
| Album: | Da Capo |
| B-Side: | Hey Joe |
| Recorded: | September 29, 1966[1] |
| Studio: | RCA Victor (Hollywood, California) |
| Label: | Elektra |
| Producer: | Paul A. Rothchild |
| Prev Title: | She Comes in Colors |
| Prev Year: | 1966 |
| Next Title: | Alone Again Or |
| Next Year: | 1967 |
"" 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".[2] The lyrics, involving topics such as death and reincarnation, suggest to Hoskyns "bad-trip paranoia" and to Greenwald "a psychedelic state of mind". 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."[3] The melody is based on the 1965 song "Lifetime of Loneliness" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.[2] [4] [5] It employs a rhythm, described by author Bob Cianci as a "lilting Latin rhythm."[6] It also incorporates sound effects such as sleigh bells, merry-go-round music and a popping champagne cork.[2] [7] Arthur Lee biographer John Einerson describes Lee's vocal tone on the song as "mellow".[2] As described by author Barney Hoskyns, the song uses "Latin rhythms and cool jazz shadings to fashion a kind of spaced-out MOR."[8] Music critic Fredrik Eriksen feels the song sounds like a mixture of The Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane.[9]
AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald regard "" 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.[10] Greenwald also notes that although the chords always resolve, they go in surprising directions.[10] Edna Gundersen and Ken Burns of USA Today described the song as "summery jazz-pop".[11] 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."[12]