"Better Things to Do" is the title of a song written by Tom Shapiro

Tom Shapiro

Tom Shapiro is an American songwriter and occasional record producer, known primarily for his work in country music. To date, he holds four Country Songwriter of the Year awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated, as well as the Songwriter of the Decade award from the Nashville Songwriters...

, Chris Waters

Chris Waters

Christopher Waters Dunn is an American country music singer and songwriter, known professionally as Chris Waters. The brother of singer Holly Dunn, Waters has co-written singles for other artists, including Number Ones for Tim McGraw and Cyndi Thomson.-Biography:Christopher Waters Dunn was born in...

, and co-written and recorded by Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist Terri Clark

Terri Clark

Terri Lynn Sauson , known professionally as Terri Clark, is a Canadian country music artist who has had success in both Canada and the United States. Signed to Mercury Records in 1995, she released her self-titled debut that year...

. It was released in July 1995 as her debut single and served as the lead-off single to her self-titled debut album

Terri Clark (album)

Terri Clark is the first studio album by Canadian country music singer Terri Clark, and was released on August 8, 1995 on Mercury Nashville Records. It was certified platinum by the RIAA and 3× Platinum by the CRIA. The album produced four singles in both Canada and the U.S.: "Better Things...

. It was a Top 10 hit on both the U.S. and Canadian country charts, where it peaked at #3 on both.

Content

"Better Things to Do" is an up-tempo song about a narrator who realizes that she has "better things to do" than to sit around and cry over her ended relationship. At the same time, her man wants her back, thinking she's lost without him.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "good uptempo tune with a solid delivery."

Music video

Terri Clark's first music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

was released for the song, directed by Michael Merriman. In the video, Clark is shown playing her guitar out in the desert as her ex is attempting to use a payphone to reach her. Later, she hops into her jeep and drives in circles around him as he pleads for her to come back to him. Eventually she drives off, leaving him in a cloud of dust.

Chart performance

"Better Things to Do" debuted at number 72 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of July 15, 1995.

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	3
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	3