"There Goes My Life" is a song written by

Wendell Mobley Wendell Lee Mobley (born in Celina, Ohio) is an American country music songwriter. He has written No. 1 hits for Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney. He began playing in local bands before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, where he found a job playing ...

and

Neil Thrasher Joe Neil Thrasher Jr. (born July 13, 1965) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1995 and 1997, he and Kelly Shiver comprised the duo Thrasher Shiver, which recorded a studio album for Asylum Records in 1996 and charted two ...

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, ...

singer

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Coun ...

. It was released in October 2003 as the first single from Chesney's 2004 album '' When the Sun Goes Down''. The song spent seven consecutive weeks at number one between late December 2003 and January 2004.

Content

The song is about a teen, who 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 Shaun Silva is a music video director who works primarily in the country music field. He has directed a number of music videos for many country music artists, including many of Kenny Chesney's music videos. His other clients include Jason Aldean, ...

, and premiered on CMT on October 28, 2003. In the video, the protagonist is a high school football player, played by Austin Chittim. He is met after practice by his girlfriend, with news of her pregnancy. The couple decide to keep the baby, who becomes a source of happiness for them. When she grows up, she has to leave to pursue her education. The grown daughter in the video is played by actress

Amber Heard Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film ''All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006), and went on to star in films such as '' The Ward'' (2010) and '' Drive Angry'' (2011). S ...

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 46 on the US ''

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 (now

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 from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

) chart for the week of October 25, 2003. It reached number one on that chart for the week of December 20, 2003 and held that position for seven consecutive weeks until it was knocked off by

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many o ...

's "

Remember When Remember When may refer to: Music * "Remember When" (Alan Jackson song), 2003 * " Remember When (We Made These Memories)", a 1965 song by Wayne Newton * " Remember When (Push Rewind)", a 2012 song by Chris Wallace * "Remember When", a song by Colo ...

". The song also peaked at number 29 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Kenny Chesney singles 2003 singles Country ballads 2000s ballads Kenny Chesney songs Songs written by Neil Thrasher Songs written by Wendell Mobley Music videos directed by Shaun Silva Song recordings produced by Buddy Cannon Song recordings produced by Norro Wilson BNA Records singles 2003 songs Songs about pregnancy