When you're chewing on life's gristle

[Lenka]

I tried to translate the song below (from "Life of Brian"), but I don't understand the underlined text... What does it mean? I believe it's some type of metaphor or something similar, but it doesn't just make sense to me...



When you're chewing on life's gristle

1) chewing on? Why "on"?

2) gristle? In my dictionary I found a synonym for gristle and it's cartilage... If I understand it well, it's the "bone" between vertebrae or in some other parts of our body... Why does he sing about gristle?

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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (from Monty Python)

words and music by Eric Idle
Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...
If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...
For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.
So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath
Life's a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the right side of life...
(Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the bright side of life...
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life...
(I mean - what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)
Always look on the right side of life...

[tedtmc]

Let me try.

chewing on life's gristle
As you say, gristle is something that is hard to chew. I think it is used as a metaphor to refer to the difficulty/adversity/hard knocks/troubles that one goes through in life

[Lenka]

you might be right...
but why does it say "chewing ON"?

[Lenka]

And what does this mean?

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.


curtain is a veiling, isn't it?

[Casiopea]

In addition,

gristle, the tough elastic cartilage of meat.
chew on <something>; e.g., a bone

face the [lowering of the] curtain with a bow: it's an analogy to death. When the play is over, the curtain comes down, and the actors bow to the audience.

[tedtmc]

To chew on/over something means to ponder or think something over for a long time.

Casiopea
It says in the poem that the actors 'face the curtain with a bow' , not 'face the audience' with a bow though. Strange.

[Casiopea]

I read it as, 'face the (lowering of) the curtain; i.e., the event, not the curtain itself. But, then again, if the actors are bowing to the stage props; i.e., they have their backs to the audience, that brings a whole new image to mind.