"Gonna Get a Life" is the title of a song written by Jim Lauderdale

Jim Lauderdale

Jim Lauderdale is a musician & singer-songwriter who performs bluegrass and country music. He has recorded since 1986 and has released nineteen studio albums. Artists who have recorded his material include George Strait and Patty Loveless.-Biography:...

 and Frank Dycus. It was recorded by American country music

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...

 singer Mark Chesnutt

Mark Chesnutt

Mark Nelson Chesnutt is an American country music singer. Chesnutt recorded and released his first album, Doing My Country Thing, in the late-1980s on private independent record label, Axbar Records, with the vinyl album version now a collector's item...

. It was released in February 1995 as the second single from his 1994 album What a Way to Live

What a Way to Live

What a Way to Live is the fifth studio album released by American country music artist Mark Chesnutt. His first album for Decca Records, it earned RIAA gold certification in the United States for sales of 500,000 copies...

. The song became Chesnutt's sixth U.S. Country Music charts Number One in May of that year.

Background and writing

Jim Lauderdale told Taste of Country that he was working at co-writer Frank Dycus' house that day and while taking a break he played a melody that he came up with. Dycus came up with the title and then wrote the rest of the lyrics.

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 "spicy mix of country and cajun."

Music video

The music video was directed by Sherman Halsey and premiered in early 1995. It was filmed in Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...

.

Chart performance

"Gonna Get a Life" debuted at number 68 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of February 25, 1995.

Chart (1995)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Country Singles	2