Songfacts®:

• The theme of So Beautiful Or So What is the meaning of life, and Simon asks the question on this track: if humanity suddenly disappeared, "would a zebra gazing in the African Savannah care enough to shed one zebra tear"? He said to Mojo: "I imagine two zebras saying, 'Bummer! Those humans have gone.' 'Yeah what a drag!"
• Simon penned the ballads for So Beautiful Or So What before working on the more uptempo songs. He explained why in an interview with Spinner: "'Amulet,' 'Love and Hard Times' and 'Questions for the Angels' were the first three songs written. Maybe that's part of its strength - that I spent a lot of time on the ballads. I was interested in beginning from another premise than rhythm. When you start with the rhythm, if you get a really good groove going, you're perfectly happy to play one chord or just a few chords and just repeat it, like on 'Christmas Day' or 'The Afterlife' or 'So Beautiful Or So What.' That's just the same pattern repeated, but they had good grooves and you don't need to get into a lot of changes on rhythm."