I've Never Been to Me

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"I've Never Been to Me"

Single by Charlene
Released	1977, 1982
Label	Motown Records
Writer(s)	Ron Miller
Chart positions
UK #1 US #3

"I've Never Been to Me" is a hit single performed by American singer Charlene.

1 Chart history
2 Content
3 Several versions
- 3.1 Chinese
- 3.2 Japanese
4 Soundtrack
5 Covers by other artist(s)

[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's re-issuance by Charlene's label. The single reached Number 3 in the USA, and Number 1, by June 1982, in the UK.

[edit] Content

The song, which was originally written from a male point of view, is sung to a wife 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.

[edit] Several versions

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 the most 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," and the real love of a family.

[edit] Chinese

It has also been recorded in a Mandarin (Chinese) version by S.H.E on their Youth Society album with a popular music video.

It also has a Cantonese version called by Hong Kong singer Vivian Chow Wai Man in the early 90's.

[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.