"Life Ain't Always Beautiful" is the title of a song written by Cyndi Goodman

Cyndi Thomson

Cyndi Thomson is an American country music artist. Thomson wrote songs with songwriter Tommy Lee James and in 2000, she signed with Capitol Records Nashville as a recording artist...

 and Tommy Lee James

Tommy Lee James

Tommy Lee James is an American country music songwriter and record producer. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, he is originally from Roanoke, Virginia. He graduated from Northside High School then attended Radford University where he studied voice...

, and recorded by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country music singer Gary Allan

Gary Allan

Gary Allan Herzberg is an American country music artist, known professionally as Gary Allan.Signed to Decca Records in 1996, Allan made his debut on the United States country music scene with the release of his single "Her Man", the lead-off to his gold-certified debut album Used Heart for Sale,...

. It was released in January 2006 as the second and final single from his 2005 album, Tough All Over

Tough All Over

-Personnel:As listed in liner notes.*Perry Coleman - background vocals*Chad Cromwell - drums*Eric Darken - percussion*Kenny Greenberg - acoustic guitar on track 2, electric guitar on tracks 2, 7, 8 and 12*Wes Hightower - background vocals...

. The song reached the Top Five on the 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...

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart..

Content

The song is a ballad, in which the narrator talks about the realities of life, despite the peaks and valleys we go through. The narrator states that while life isn't always beautiful, it's a beautiful ride.

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock reviewed the song favorably, calling it "a poignant song sung softly and tenderly by an emotional vocalist."

Music video

The 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...

 for this song features Gary singing the song in Las Vegas. It was directed by Paul Boyd.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 58 on the Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart dated January 21, 2006. It charted for 33 weeks on that chart, and reached a peak of number 4 on the chart dated August 19, 2006. In addition, it peaked at number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

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Chart (2006)	Peak position