Pumpernickel an old Bavarian term for "hard", either referring to the process used to grind the grain into flour, or the density of the final bread product. According to "Langenscheidts Taschen Wörterbücher" (1956), it refers to a form of "pumping work". The philologist Johann Christoph Adelung states that the word has an origin in the Germanic vernacular where was a New High German synonym for being flatulent, and was a form of the name Nicholas, commonly associated with a goblin or devil (e.g. "Old Nick", a familiar name for Satan), or more generally for a malevolent spirit or demon. Hence, "pumpernickel"
What Is Life in the UK as perhaps the strongest of all of Harrison's singles. Writing in 1981, "NME" critic Bob Woffinden grouped "What Is LIfe" with "My Sweet Lord", "Isn't It a Pity" and "Awaiting on You All" as "all excellent songs". Reviewing the 2001 reissue of "All Things Must Pass", for "Rolling Stone", James Hunter wrote of how the album's music "exults in breezy rhythms", among which "the colorful revolutions of 'What Is Life' ... [move] like a Ferris wheel". The following year, in Rolling Stone Press's "Harrison" tribute book, David Fricke included "What Is Life" among his selection of "essential