If You Can't Be Good (Be Good at It)

{{Infobox song

| name = If You Can't Be Good (Be Good at It)

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Neal McCoy

| album = Be Good at It

| released = October 18, 1997

| format =

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Country

| length = 3:26

| label = Atlantic

| writer = Troy Seals, Blue Miller

| producer = Kyle Lehning

| prev_title = The Shake

| prev_year = 1997

| next_title = Party On

| next_year = 1998

}}

"If You Can't Be Good (Be Good at It)" is a song written by Troy Seals and Blue Miller, and recorded by American country music artist Neal McCoy. It was released in October 1997 as the first single from the album Be Good at It. The song reached #22 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.{{cite book |title= The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=222}}

Critical reception

A review in Billboard noted that the production of Kyle Lehning gave the song a "different feel sonically" from McCoy's previous releases, but added that "it's still the personality in McCoy's voice that sells this type of tune."{{cite magazine|date=October 18, 1997|title=Reviews|magazine=Billboard|page=80|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAkEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22if+you+can%27t+be+good+be+good+at+it%22+%22neal+mccoy%22&pg=PA80}}

Chart performance

class="wikitable sortable"

!align="left"|Chart (1997–1998)

!align="center"|Peak
position

{{singlechart|Canadacountry|15|chartid=3462|publishdate=February 23, 1998|accessdate=July 14, 2013}}
{{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|22|artist=Neal McCoy}}

References