"Awful, Beautiful Life" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Darryl Worley Darryl Wade Worley (born October 31, 1964) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to DreamWorks Records Nashville in 1999, Worley released four albums for the label: ''Hard Rain Don't Last'' (2000), ''I Miss My Friend'' (200 ...

. The song was written by Worley and

Harley Allen Harley Lee Allen (January 23, 1956March 30, 2011) was an American bluegrass and country singer and songwriter. Early life Allen was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of bluegrass performer Red Allen. Discography Studio albums Singles Musi ...

and produced by Frank Rogers. It was released on July 12, 2004 as the lead single to Worley's self-titled third studio album by DreamWorks Nashville. It is his third and last song to top the US

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart, where it spent two weeks atop that chart in January 2005. It also peaked at number 30 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number eight on the ''

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

'' Canada Country chart.

Content

"Awful, Beautiful Life" is an up-tempo featuring accompaniment from

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

. The story, told in first person, describes the events of a Sunday in a young family man's life. The main protagonist reluctantly goes to church with his wife, despite having been out with his friends the night before. Later, the family attends a cookout and spends time with other family members. Later, everyone prays for a cousin who has been deployed to

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, well aware he may never return home alive. That night, as the protagonist lays in bed, he reflects on his day, thankful for his blessings and summing this all up by stating how he "love this crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful life."

Critical reception

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' magazine noted that "the country singer exhibits an insightful awareness of life's vagaries" on the song, and designated it as the album's recommended download.R. N. (November 29, 2004), "Darryl Worley (Music)". ''People''. 62

Music video

Directed by Cameron Casey, this video plays out the events related in the song's lyrics; Worley's participation in the events is interspersed with performance shots of him singing while standing in a field, standing by a fence and in front of a barn, and driving an old red chevy convertible. Near the end of the video, Worley is shown picking up his cousin and drops him off at his house.

Charts

"Awful, Beautiful Life" debuted at No. 56 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart the week of July 10, 2004. After a long climb up the chart, the song reached No. 1 the week of January 22, 2005. The song also peaked at No. 30 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in early 2005.

Year-end charts

Release history

References

2004 singles Darryl Worley songs Songs written by Harley Allen Songs written by Darryl Worley Song recordings produced by Frank Rogers (record producer) DreamWorks Records singles 2004 songs {{2000s-country-song-stub