There Is a God
| "There Is a God" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Lee Ann Womack | ||||
| Released | November 2, 2009 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 4:15 | |||
| Label | MCA Nashville | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Chris DuBois Ashley Gorley | |||
| Producer(s) | Tony Brown | |||
| Lee Ann Womack singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"There Is a God" is a song written by Chris DuBois and Ashley Gorley, and recorded by American country music artist Lee Ann Womack. It was released as a single in November 2009.
Content
[edit]"There Is a God" is a ballad, backed primarily by acoustic guitar, with steel guitar fills and strings. The song's narrator describes everything she sees, from things of beauty ("Watch a flock of birds against the morning sun / Close your eyes and listen to the river run") to life's miracles ("Hearing the doctor say he can't explain it, but the cancer's gone"), as being proof that "there is a God."
The song was previously recorded by Trent Willmon for his 2007 album Broken In. His version was released as a single in late 2007, although it failed to chart. Womack recorded her own version of the song and a positive response from country radio led to its single release.[1]
Reba McEntire later covered the song for her 2017 album, Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope.
Critical reception
[edit]The song was met with mixed reception among music critics. Matt Bjorke of Roughstock reviewed the song favorably, and described it as a return to a more "contemporary" country sound: "This song may not please the traditionalists who enjoyed the last couple of albums from Lee Ann Womack but it’s also not as ‘pop’ as “[I Hope You] Dance” was but it might just reach as many people with the strong lyric and Lee Ann’s expert delivery of them."[2] Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song a B−, stating that the lyrics "rubbed [him] the wrong way" and that Womack's performance was "tepid" and lacking in conviction.[3] Country Weekly reviewer Chris Neal said that the song was "lovely but bland" and criticized the "potshots at science" in the bridge ("Science says it's all just circumstance / Like the whole world's just an accident"), giving it three stars out of five.[4]
Chart performance
[edit]"There Is a God" debuted at number 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 14, 2009. It became her twenty-first Top 40 single on that chart, reaching a peak of 32 in March 2010.
| Chart (2009-2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[5] | 32 |
References
[edit]- ^ CMT News: Lee Ann Womack Releases New Single, "There Is a God"
- ^ Roughstock Blog: Lee Ann Womack - "There Is a God"
- ^ Country Universe: Review: Lee Ann Womack, “There is a God”
- ^ Neal, Chris (30 November 2009). "Reviews — Singles". Country Weekly. 16 (42): 45. ISSN 1074-3235.
- ^ "Lee Ann Womack Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-08-28.