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I've Never Been to Me

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"I've Never Been to Me"
Song

"I've Never Been to Me" is a sleeper hit single performed by American singer Charlene Oliver née D'Angelo.

Chart history

Upon its initial release in 1977, the song reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 1982, renewed interest in the song led to the single reaching Number 3 in the USA and Number 1 in the UK. The song also reached number 1 in Australia for six weeks and in Canada for four weeks.

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 (Featuring Stevie Wonder)", 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 (Q105), started playing it, by which time Charlene had moved to England and was working in a sweet shop in Ilford, east London. 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 might have made me complete", 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 that portion (which is not the spoken bridge). When the song became an unexpected hit in 1982 it was the version with the spoken bridge (ed. note: the spoken bridge has nothing to do with unborn children, that portion of the song was sung, not spoken. The spoken bridge consists of the words "Hey, you know what paradise is? It's a lie, a fantasy we create about people and places as we'd like them to be. But you know what truth is? It's that little baby you're holding, and it's that man you fought with this morning; The same one you're going to make love with tonight! That's truth, that's love......" This was not the song portion that was deemed "too feminist") 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 had not 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. [citation needed]

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.

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.

Charlene re-released the song in the form of a dance remix via download music in 2008.[1]

Cover versions

  • Randy Crawford recorded a cover of the song, which was included on her 1976 album Everything Must Change.
  • Soul singer Walter Jackson recorded a cover of the song in 1977 for his album I Want To Come Back As A Song.
  • The song had been previously recorded by Nancy Wilson in 1977. Her cover can be found on one of her greatest hits compilations.
  • Mary MacGregor released a cover in 1978, but it was only a minor Adult Contemporary chart single and failed to make the pop charts. It was included on her 1978 album ...In Your Eyes.
  • Dutch singer Patricia Paay recorded the song for her 1995 English-language album Time of My Life comprising songs from movies, "I've Never Been to Me" being the opening number in the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
  • Tracy Huang Ying Ying, a famous Taiwanese diva, covered this song and she is better known for this song in Singapore, Malaysia and other parts of Asia than the original singer. This version replaces the words "subtle whoring" with "inner feelings."
  • The Temptations performed the song on their Reunion album in 1982.
  • Neds Atomic Dustbin covered the song on their 1994 album 0.522. It was also included on the 1992 compilation Ruby Trax.
  • Taiwanese girl group S.H.E included a cover on their 2002 album, Youth Society.
  • A hi-NRG/eurodance cover of the song by Rainbow Nation featuring Monica Dionne was released as a single through Almighty Records in 2003. An audio sample can be heard on the official Almighty Records website.[2]
  • J-pop singer Yuki Koyanagi recorded a Japanese-language cover. It was included on the "Love Knot-Ai No Kizuna" single from 2004. She sang it in English as well, including the spoken bridge, though she does not actually understand English.

Live cover performances

  • It has been covered live by Korean female duo As One in English and in Korean with somewhat similar lyrics.
  • K-pop and J-pop singer Younha sung a cover of the song in English on the Korean TV program "Music Travel Lalala".

Cover versions in other languages

Chinese

  • Cantonese
Vivian Chow's Cantonese version "孤單的心痛" (lit.The solitary heartache) is a pretty generic Cantopop love song.
  • Mandarin
"三月的玫瑰" (lit. Rose of March) performed by Taiwanese singer, Jin Rei-Yao (金瑞瑤).
Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng recorded versions of this song both in Mandarin and in English
Female group S.H.E. performed this song in one of their albums without altering the lyrics. The spoken bridge was missing, possibly because of the catchier tempo and melody that the group used to cover this song.

Japanese

There are two different versions of the lyrics in Japanese. One largely follows the original theme, while a newer version has completely different lyrics written by Keiko Aso(麻生圭子) with the title "LOVE IS ALL　～愛を聴かせて～"(Love is All -Let me hear your love-). Japanese female singer Megumi Shiina(椎名恵) recorded it for a TV period drama of the unrequited love between Takeda Shingen's daughter and Oda Nobunaga's son.

The latter, positive version 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, this adaptation uses different lyrics, so younger Japanese listeners may be unaware of the original lyrics' meaning.

By the way, in Japan the original English version itself is known with another title "Ai wa Kagerou no you ni"(roughly meaning 'love seems ephemeral'), as is often the case for oversea songs released there.

Spanish

Charlene herself recorded a Spanish version of this song called Nunca He Ido A Mi with the spoken bridge portion intact. It was released concurrently with the English version.

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".[3]

Finnish

Seija Simola recorded the Finnish version "En tunne itseäin" ("I do not know myself") in 1984. It was released as a single, as well as on the compilation "Jokamiehen suosikit 10".

Korean

"As One" (에즈원), Korean female duo, Crystal (Dahee Chae 채다희) and Min (Minyoung Lee 이민영). Lyric by Sara Yun (윤사라), and re-arranged by Jaehong Shin (신재홍). Album Day by day, released on November 11, 1999.

German

A German version with the same sentiment as in the original version, but a softer choice of words (avoiding phrases like "exploring the subtle whoring" which can be found in Charlene's original version) was recorded by Swiss-born singer Paola under the title "Ich hab' ins Paradies geseh'n (I've peeked into paradise)".

In 2009, German singer Ina Müller recorded the song in the German minority language of "Plattdüütsch" (Low German) as "De Wind vun Hamborg" (meaning "The breeze of Hamburg"). The Low German lyrics, written by Müller herself, tell about the singer's experiences during her travels of Northern Germany and concluding that the most happy times have always been when she felt the breeze of Hamburg blowing, thereby transporting the sentiment that there's no place like home. Prior to the studio recording, "De Wind vun Hamborg" had been part of Ina Müller's stage act for several years and still is.

Vietnamese

A Vietnamese version of "I've Never Been To Me" was written and sung by Vân Quỳnh. The title of the song is called "Thiên Đường Ảo" ("Virtual Heaven").

Parodies

Sampling

Appearances / references in other media

References

  1. ^ I've Never Been To Me enjoys a new release.
  2. ^ http://www.almightyrecords.com/product/ALMY064/
  3. ^ Information at Svensk mediedatabas
  4. ^ Guterman, Jimmy and O'Donnell, Owen. The Worst Rock n' Roll Records Of All Time (Citadel Press, 1991.)
  5. ^ http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2006/04/27/Paul-Anka-wins-worst-song-poll-by-CNN/UPI-74281146163429/
Preceded by UK number one single
26 June 1982 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Australian Kent Music Report number-one single
June 21, 1982 - July 26, 1982 (6 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Canadian RPM number-one single
25 June - 17 July 1982 (4 weeks) 		Succeeded by
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