Critical Reception
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" was released in digital form on May 13, 2008. The song was generally well received by critics. Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe called the song "A sprawling folk-metal chorale that squashes wildly assorted references into epic musical settings." IGN called it a "Schizophrenic, six-minute roller-coaster of 10 movements," but did not expect the song to be a single: "I don't hear a single, but it's certainly the most curious song to leak from Cuomo's pen, and it is the runaway star of an equally spastic album." It was also one of five songs on the album to be considered "download worthy" by IGN. Although Marc Hogan of Pitchfork Media was critical of the album as a whole, he praised "The Greatest Man", calling it "he warped genius let loose." NME's James McMahon likened it to "Mr. Blue Sky" by the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra, writing " is without question the most ambitious song Cuomo has ever penned, cramming a rapped intro, barber-shop harmonies and ornate music box twinkling into a six-minute geek-pop rewrite of ELO's Mr Blue Sky.'"
Not all reviews were entirely positive. Jeffrey Canino of Tiny Mix Tapes criticized the introductory rap section of the song, " brings forth an unpleasant memory of Fred Durst. All throughout, the band is experimenting with disparaging sounds, and the only thing that ties them together is Rick Rubin and Jacknife Lee's glossy production." Despite this, Canino still rates the song highly, "The bulk of the middle portion is really pretty okay, so we'll concede this one as a success." Similarly, Ira Robbins and Pete Crigler of TrouserPress.com said, "Despite that success, rap is not an advisable direction for Weezer." Alan Shulman of No Ripcord commented that the song did not have much lasting appeal: "The novelty begins to wear after the 4th or 5th listen," and Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly labelled the song a "Bombastic mini-rock opera" but also said the "remedial rhymes" marred an "otherwise intriguing musical experiment."
Read more about this topic: The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn)
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