About the song

“Is There Life Out There” is a song written by Susan Longacre and Rick Giles, and recorded by American country music singer Reba McEntire. It was released on January 28, 1992 as the second single from her album For My Broken Heart. The song reached Number One on the American country singles charts in March of that year, and peaked at the same position on the Canadian country singles charts in April.

The song debuted at #64 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks and peaked at #1 for the week of March 28, 1992 (McEntire’s 37th birthday), and it stayed at #1 for two consecutive weeks.

The song’s music video was directed by Jack Cole and featured Huey Lewis as McEntire’s character’s husband. This video is noted for being one of the first in country music to include significant amounts of dialogue that portray the song’s storyline. Portions of the video were shot on Belmont University’s campus in Nashville, TN. According to Entertainment Weekly, McEntire and her label (MCA Records) received complaints from the television network CMT over the video that she was “putting message ahead of music”, and it was almost banned from the network. The video won Video of the Year at the 1992 Academy of Country Music awards.

The video depicts a woman named Maggie O’Connor (McEntire) juggling a career (as a waitress at a local diner), courses at the local college and a family life. Her husband, Andy (Lewis) keeps things under control at home as life becomes hectic for Maggie: the couple’s daughter is sent home from school with an illness, the couple’s son is in a school play, and Maggie—whose job at the busy diner always makes her run behind—irritates her hard-nosed literary professor by her frequent tardiness. However, Maggie is able to find time to bond with her daughter, and eventually wins over the professor with her thought process. Unfortunately, the stresses of pursuing her degree nearly gets to Maggie when she yells at her daughter for inadvertently spilling coffee on her term paper. Andy intervenes and, while Maggie apologizes to her daughter, he dries off the pages. In the end, Maggie gets an A on her term paper and graduates with honors. Andy proudly tells everyone, “That’s my wife.”

Video

Lyrics

She married when she was 20She thought she was ready, now she’s not so sureShe thought she’d done some livingBut now she’s just wonderin’ what she’s living forNow she’s feeling that there’s something more
Is there life out there? So much she hasn’t doneIs there life beyond her family and her home?She’s done what she should, should she do what she dares?She doesn’t want to leave, she’s just wonderin’, is there life out there?
She’s always lived for tomorrowShe’s never learned how to live for todayOh, she’s dyin’ to try something foolishDo something crazy or just get awayOh, something for herself for a change
Is there life out there? So much she hasn’t doneIs there life beyond her family and her home?She’s done what she should, should she do what she dares?She doesn’t want to leave, she’s just wonderin’, is there life out there?
There’s a place in the sun that she’s never beenWhere life is fair and time is a friendWould she do it the same as she did back then?Oh, she looks out her window, and she wonders again
Is there life out there? So much she hasn’t doneIs there life beyond her family and her home?She’s done what she should, should she do what she dares?She doesn’t want to leave, she’s just wonderin’, is there life out there?Oh, is there life out there?
Is there life out there? So much she hasn’t doneIs there life beyond her family and her home?She’s done what she should, should she do what she dares?She doesn’t want to leave, she’s just wonderin’, is there life out there?
Oh, she doesn’t want to leave, she’s just wonderin’, is there life out there?

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