I've Never Been to Me
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| “I've Never Been to Me” | ||
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| Single by Charlene | ||
| Released | 1977, 1982 | |
| Label | Motown Records | |
| Writer(s) | Ron Miller | |
"I've Never Been to Me" is a hit single performed by American singer Charlene.
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[edit] Chart history
In 1977 the song reached number 97 on the Hot 100 singles chart. In 1982, Tampa, Florida disc jockey Scott Shannon, then at WRBQ, started playing it. Audience reaction was impressive, and spread quickly, resulting in the song being reissued by Charlene's label. The single reached Number 3 in the USA, and Number 1, by June 1982, in the UK.
[edit] Content
Charlene was signed to Motown Records, but this has been her only hit save for a late 1982 duet with Stevie Wonder, "Used to Be," which charted but failed to make the top 40.
Charlene did two versions of the song. The version which was initially released was actually the second version which Charlene recorded. Her original version (which became more popular) has an expanded bridge, over which the singer makes an impassioned comparison between the non-committal "fantasy about people and places as we'd like them to be," versus the committed real love of a family.
In 1982, Tampa, Florida disc jockey Scott Shannon, then at WRBQ, started playing it, by which time Charlene had moved to England and was working in an Ilford, Essex sweet shop. Audience reaction was impressive, and spread quickly, resulting in the song's re-issuance by Charlene's label, the version WITH the original spoken bridge. The re-release became a huge hit in Britain as well.
The use of the line "I've been to crying for unborn children that would have made me complete" hints strongly at abortion. The line refers to a woman who is at a point in her life that she wished she had taken the time to have children. However, this was deemed too close to feminist issues and when Charlene's song was first released in 1976, the version used was the one without the spoken bridge. When the song became an unexpected hit in 1982 it was the version with the spoken bridge intact that was released. It has also been widely reported that the 1982 single was a re-recording, it is not.
Originally written from a male point of view, the song was rewritten by Ron Miller for Charlene. The male version is sung from the perspective of an old man begging for a dime for a cup of coffee, addressing a younger man who is "raising hell" the way the old man used to do. The female version is sung to a housewife who wishes that she could trade her everyday life for the exciting, fantastic life led by the singer. The singer tells of some of the highlights of her life, but the tone is bittersweet and she wishes that someone had told her what she is telling the listener. She has learned what is important, but now it is too late. She finds her life hollow and without purpose, having lost her real self years before — the "me" she has never been to, is the life that she would have led if she hadn't been lured away by false ideas.
When this song was first released in the USA, in 1976, Charlene's full name was Charlene Duncan through her marriage to record producer Larry Duncan, but when the song was released for a second time in 1982, the name she had taken was Charlene Oliver because of her marriage to Englishman Jeff Oliver.
It soon rose to the top of the Pop charts and Adult Contemporary charts that year. Her LP album I've Never Been to Me, released in 1982 proved to also be successful for Charlene. Her song was one of the biggest hits of the year and became a standard in pop music.
Charlene has not yet been able to follow-up the success of her one big hit "I've Never Been to Me", but has continued to record and release songs to the public. She released another album in 1983, but was not so successful.
"I've Never Been to Me" was featured as the opening song to the movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). The song is mimed onstage by two Sydney female impersonators at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, Sydney, Australia.
Because of her one big hit, Charlene became a one-hit-wonder in music. Charlene and her big hit "I've Never Been to Me" were featured on VH1's 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders show, hosted by William Shatner in 2002. Her position on that list was at #75. The song was described on the VH1 show as "the post-disco hangover," referring to the song's probable appeal to listeners who, in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, regretted leading hedonistic lives during the disco era.
In 2006, "I've Never Been to Me" was released as one of the songs on Singstar Anthems, one of the popular Singstars.
One urban legend says the song was inspired by the character Quint from the movie Jaws.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Chinese
Vivian Chow's Cantonese version "孤單的心痛" is a pretty generic Cantopop love song.
Jin Rei-Yao "三月的玫瑰" (Mandarin Version)
Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng recorded versions of this song both in Mandarin and in English
[edit] Japanese
The melody, set to different words, is often used as a wedding song in Japan; the chorus line "never been to me" is replaced with "my love is true". This reappropriation of the song's melody for use in a wedding is quite ironic, as the original song's lyrics describe a single, lonely, aged, childless, promiscuous woman who never got married and wishes she had borne children; further, the singer describes the life of a married woman - the implied listener of the song - as a "discontented mother and a regimented wife" who "dream[s] about the things you'll never do". The original lyrics' meaning would be a rather poor fit for a wedding.
However, the wild and free-wheeling lifestyle of the singer, even if presented in lurid detail (having "been undressed by kings, and ... seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see") is presented as a warning to the bored housewife, that the boring married lifestyle is, in the end, better than a life of free-love that ends in loneliness and solitude. Seen this way, this warning could be construed as appropriate for a wedding.
In any event, the Japanese adaptation uses different lyrics, so Japanese listeners may be unaware of the original lyrics' meaning.
[edit] Swedish
With the lyrics "Jag har sett himmelen" (I have seen heaven) in Swedish, Kikki Danielsson recorded the song on her 1983 album "Singles Bar".
[edit] Korean
"As One(에즈원)", Korean female duo, Crystal(Dahee Chae채다희) and Min(Minyoung Yi이민영). Lyric by Sara Yun(윤사라), and re-arranged by Jaehong Shin(신재홍). Album "Day by day", released in November 11, 1999.
[edit] Covers by other artist(s)
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- Australian artist Ben Lee sampled the song for his track "No Room to Bleed" off the album Hey You. Yes You.
- This song had been previously recorded by Nancy Wilson; it can be found on one of her greatest hits compilations.
- Mary MacGregor released a cover of "I've Never Been to Me" in 1978, but it was only a minor Adult Contemporary chart single and failed to make the pop charts.
- Tracy Huang Ying Ying, a famous Taiwanese diva, covered this song and she is more known with this song in Singapore, Malaysia and other parts of Asia than the original singer.
- The Temptations performed the song on their Reunion album.
- The Taiwanese girl group S.H.E also performed the song on their second album, Youth Society.
- There's a version recorded by Randy Crawford.
- It was sung by Edie Britt, a fictional character portrayed by Nicollette Sheridan on the hit TV show Desperate Housewives in the season one episode Move On.
- It has been covered by Dustin the Turkey with re-worked lyrics on his album Unplucked, which replaces the title with a claim that he has "never been to Meath"
- It has also been covered by Korean female duo As One in English and in Korean with somewhat similar lyrics.
- On the popular T.V. show the Simpsons in episode "Catch 'em if you can", when Homer was told he has been to space he replies "And yet I've never been to me".
- J-pop singer Yuki Koyanagi also made a a Japanese-language cover of "I've Never been to me."It was included into LOVE KNOT-AI NO KIZUNA Single. She resang it in English as well, but the pronunciation is not perfect.
[edit] In popular culture
- In the sitcom Will & Grace, episode Between a Rock and a Harlin's place, Jack McFarland comically performed this song during Just Jack, his first show.
- In 1994, the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert opened with Hugo Weaving lip-synching this song while in drag. The song is also featured in the first act of the stage musical.
- In 2006, the song was used in Toffee Pops biscuit commercials in New Zealand.
- In 2007, the song was used in the movie "Shrek the Third".
| Preceded by "Goody Two Shoes" by Adam Ant |
UK number one single June 20, 1982 |
Succeeded by "Happy Talk" by Captain Sensible |
