Songfacts®:

• Bentley wrote this song with his longtime collaborator and songwriting partner Brett Beavers and his brother Jim.
• This is a duet with Patty Griffin. Bentley explained to CMT why he chose the singer-songwriter to accompany him on this tune: "Patty Griffin is iconic, and there's no other word to really describe her. She is iconic for a lot of people - not only for me but for a lot of fans. Her voice is one of a kind, and she's such an important figure in the American music scene... She's just amazing. And so I asked her. My only question was whether she would do it. Was she going to sing with a Country dude? But she knew I was a fan, and she said yes, and I was thrilled to have her on the record. I think that her voice adds some weight and gravity to the whole song, to kind of keep it rooted. It's not just fluffy – 'Oh, it's a beautiful world, everything's going to be great.' No, there are a lot of problems, but the lyrics and her voice really help cement that sentiment."
• Bentley told AOL about this song: "It's definitely new ground for me. Usually I write songs about hanging out with my boys, having fun drinking beers and raising hell. But 'Beautiful World' is more of a topical song. What the world is, is however you perceive it to be. If you want it to be a beautiful place, you've got to think about it that way and then go out there and make it so. We wrote that song and just really knew it was special."
• In an interview with CMT Bentley explained that he wrote this song whilst his wife was pregnant with their daughter, which had a bearing on his songwriting. He said: "You hear people sometimes say, 'Man, I can't imagine bringing a child into this world. It's so bad.' That's just such a negative outlook. You cannot live your life with that viewpoint of the world. Yes, there are a lot of things that are wrong, but it is a beautiful world, and you need to find the positive in it."
• Bentley performed this at the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Concert. He told AOL that it "was a no-brainer" for him to choose to sing this song, "because it's something that really brings people together."