"It's Lonely Out There" is a song co-written and 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

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the eldest child of country singer Mel Tillis. After recording unsuccessful pop material for Elektra Records, Elektra ...

. It was released in May 1996 as the third single from her album '' All of This Love''. The song reached number 14 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks 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 in September 1996. Tillis wrote the song with her then-husband,

Bob DiPiero Robert John DiPiero (born March 3, 1951) is an American country music songwriter. He has written 15 US number one hits and several Top 20 singles for Tim McGraw, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Shenandoah, Neal McCoy, ...

Content

The song's lyrical focus is a woman conversing with an ex-lover of hers, "taunting" him by telling him to find another lover but warning him that "it's lonely out there".

Background

The song is composed in the key of

A-flat major A-flat major is a major scale based on A♭ (musical note), A, with the pitches A, B♭ (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D♭ (musical note), D, E♭ (musical note), E, F (musical note), F, and G (musical note), G. Its key signature has fou ...

with a main chord pattern of A-E-D9-E on the verses, and A-E-Fm-D9-A-E-A on the chorus. Tillis presented the idea to her then-husband

, who helped her compose it on a

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

that was gifted to him by

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...

. According to Tillis, DiPiero had "pretty much written it" when she took a nap, and then when she woke up with the song "

I Can See Clearly Now "I Can See Clearly Now" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Johnny Nash. It was the lead single from his twelfth album, ''I Can See Clearly Now'' (1972), and achieved success in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

" in her head, the two decided to give the song a similar sound.

Chart performance

References

{{authority control 1996 singles 1995 songs Pam Tillis songs Arista Nashville singles Songs written by Bob DiPiero Songs written by Pam Tillis