"What a Beautiful Day" 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

Chris Cagle Christopher Norris Cagle (born November 10, 1968) is an American country music artist. He was first known for writing songs for David Kersh before signing to Virgin Records Nashville in 2000. Cagle made his debut on ''Billboard'' Hot Country Si ...

. It was released in November 2002 as the lead single from his self-titled album. The song reached the Top 5 on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, peaking at number 4 and also peaked at number 41 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, making it a minor crossover hit. It was written by Cagle and

Monty Powell Monty Powell (born June 1, 1961) is an American country music songwriter best known for collaborating with Keith Urban, and for producing albums by Diamond Rio. Powell's first songwriting credit was a jingle for an Allstate commercial. After mov ...

Content

The song is a moderate up-tempo mostly accompanied by

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and fiddle. It describes a day-by-day chronicle of a man and woman who meet, eventually falling in love and marrying. It starts with day one, on which the two lovers met; day two, where they "grabbed a bite to eat and talked all afternoon"; day fourteen, where they watch a movie together; and so forth. Throughout the rest of the song, various random days throughout the relationship are highlighted in a similar fashion, most notably in the bridge, where the singer looks forward to a long marriage with his lover ("Day eighteen thousand, two hundred and fifty-three / Well, that's fifty years — yeah, here's to you and me").

Music video

The music video was co-directed by Eric Welch and Chris Cagle and premiered in early 2003.

Chart performance

"What a Beautiful Day" debuted at number 58 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of November 9, 2002. It re-entered the chart at number 57 as an official single for the week of November 23, 2002.

Year-end charts

References

2002 singles Chris Cagle songs Songs written by Chris Cagle Capitol Records Nashville singles Songs written by Monty Powell 2002 songs {{2000s-country-song-stub