To Be a Lover in early 1969. This version has since been sampled by Ludacris on his song "Growing Pains" from "Word of Mouf", by Jaheim on "Put That Woman First" from "Still Ghetto" and by Dilated Peoples on the song "Worst Comes to Worst". In 1977, the song was covered as a more uptempo reggae number by the Jamaican singer George Faith under the amended title of "To Be a Lover (Have Mercy)" for his Lee "Scratch" Perry-produced album also called "To Be a Lover". In 1986, the track was again reworked and became the second high-profile cover Billy Idol released as a
What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World Boston Globe" described the album as one of the band's "most enjoyable and lively efforts in recent memory", "The New York Times" noted that "What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World" "strikes a note of pop concision and maturity, building on what worked on ‘The King Is Dead.’ Lyrically, there are fewer thistles and minarets and palanquins—and, musically, less digressive excess—than once made up the Decemberists’ trademark style." Jeremy Larson of Pitchfork Media was a detractor, bemoaning the album as "overlong and under-ambitious", though appreciating that listeners "start to see Meloy himself more than ever". Larson also wrote highly