Released October 20, 2003 Genre Country | Format CD single Label BNA | |
Length 3:55 (single version)
5:02 (album version) Writer(s) Neil Thrasher
Wendell Mobley | ||
"There Goes My Life" is a song written by Wendell Mobley and Neil Thrasher, and recorded by American country music singer Kenny Chesney. It was released in October 2003 as the first single from his album When the Sun Goes Down. The song spent seven consecutive weeks at number one in late December 2003 and January 2004.
Contents
Plot
A teen is blindsided when he finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant. He tells the audience that his dreams of skipping town after graduation and hanging out on the coast are ruined; in the chorus he sings, "There goes my life." By the next verse he is married to his girlfriend and their child is now a toddler. The boy discovers that it was all worth it in the end and that he loves his child more than anything. By the final verse, his daughter is grown up and going off to the West Coast herself. The father thinks as she drives away, "There goes my life, my future, my everything ..."
Music video
The music video was directed by Shaun Silva and released in late 2003. In the video, the song's narrator is a high school football player met after practice by his girlfriend, with news of her pregnancy. The grown daughter in the video is played by actress Amber Heard, best known for her role of Greta Matthews on the CW television show, Hidden Palms.
Chart performance
The song debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart dated Oct. 25, 2003. The song spent 20 weeks on that chart, and climbed to No. 1 on the chart dated Dec. 20, 2003, where it stayed at the top spot for seven consecutive weeks. It also peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100.