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

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and ex-wife of songwriter Bob DiPiero. Tillis recorded unsuccessful p ...

. It was released in May 1996 as the third single from her album ''

All of This Love ''All of This Love'' is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Pam Tillis, released on November 7, 1995 via Arista Records. The album reached #25 on the Billboard country albums charts. Singles from the album were "Deep Down" at ...

''. 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 advertise ...

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 from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

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 single 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 (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat minor, ...

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 the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

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 best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

. 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 Johnny Nash. It was the lead single from his album I Can See Clearly Now (Johnny Nash album), ''I Can See Clearly Now'' and achieved success in the United States and the U ...

" 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