The singer's name is famous (again, because of that *other* song), so the obscurity of the song in question doesn't affect the puzzle's doability much in the end. Not knowing the JEAN VALJEAN song and being only kinda sorta familiar with that YAHWEH phrase, those are personal blindspots, but that GLORIA / GAYNOR song, that's everyone's blindspot. "I WILL SURVIVE" has indeed survived, and to this day it is the only GLORIA / GAYNOR song 99% of the population, including me, can name.* "I Am What I Am," on the other hand, sounds like a confession / apology: "Hey, I'll admit, I'm no 'I WILL SURVIVE,' but I Am What I Am, alright? Give me a break." So even if you thought this theme was cute, you gotta admit, one of these five is not like the others. it falls a *little* short on the recognizability scale. 13 overall in the UK, but when you line that song up against the likes of "Les Misérables," Descartes, Popeye, and (!) Yahweh. "I WILL SURVIVE" has Cartesian, Popeysian levels of fame. It's the queen of female empowerment anthems (OK, maybe co-queen with Aretha's version of "R-E-S-P-E-C-T"). It won the Grammy for Best Disco Recording in 1980 (the only year that award was given). The main one, the huge one, the absolutely glaring one, is that GLORIA / GAYNOR is famous for precisely one song, and that song is not "I Am What I Am" but another, much much (much much much ad inf.) more famous "I" song: "I WILL SURVIVE." I lived through the "I WILL SURVIVE" era. But leaving that technical glitch aside, there are a few other problems. The first problem was not the puzzle's, but my software's-it can't do italics and so all the theme clues were in quotation marks, which meant *double* quotation marks on every clue (since the clues are all quotations to begin with). I guess I can see how there might be something amusing about lining up a bunch of different "I (Y)AM" phrases like this, but for me the solve was slightly awkward, slightly confusing. Only two of these five "I (Y)AM" phrases resonated for me at all, so this had no real chance of being a puzzle I'd enjoy much. The meaning of the longer phrase ’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh is debated, and might be seen as a promise ('I will be with you') or as statement of incomparability ('I am without equal'). The word אֶהְיֶה ( ’Ehyeh ) is the first person form of hayah, 'to be', and owing to the peculiarities of Hebrew grammar means 'I am', 'I was', and 'I will be'. אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה ( ’ehye ’ăšer ’ehye ) is the first of three responses given to Moses when he asks for God 's name in the Book of Exodus. The traditional English translation within Judaism favors " I will be what I will be " because the imperfective aspect in Modern Hebrew is normally used for future tense and there is no present tense with direct object of the verb " to be " in the Hebrew language.
" I Am that I Am " is a common English translation of the Hebrew phrase אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה ( ’ehye ’ăšer ’ehye pronounced )– also " I am who I am ", " I will become what I choose to become ", " I am what I am ", " I will be what I will be ", " I create what(ever) I create ", or " I am the Existing One ". Word of the Day: "I Am that I Am" ( 56A). RENÉ DESCARTES (49A: "I think, therefore I am").
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