Charlene - I've Never Been To Me (1982) (With Spoken Bridge)

Note: Click "Show More" for lyrics. This video is in full HD and has the spoken bridge in the middle that isn't on the earlier version of the song. The song was originally released in 1977 without the spoken part. Feel free to comment if you love it, or even if you hate it! Here is some information about Charlene:

Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo (born June 1, 1950, Hollywood, California) is an American R&B singer best known as Charlene. She is known for her 1982 popular song "I've Never Been to Me", and is considered a one-hit-wonder. Charlene originally recorded "I've Never Been to Me" in 1976, and the single reached #97 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1977. When released again in 1982, the single reached #3 in the United States (US), and #1 by June 1982, in the UK Singles Chart. The song has been her only Top 40 hit.

In 1982, Tampa, Florida disc jockey Scott Shannon, then at WRBQ, started playing the song at the behest of a girlfriend, by which time Charlene had lost her recording contract, moved to England and was working in a sweetshop in Ilford, London. Audience reaction was impressive, resulting in the song's second release with the original spoken bridge. The second release was a hit in England as well.

When the song was first released in the US in 1976, Charlene's legal name was Charlene Duncan from her marriage to record producer Larry Duncan; by the time the song was released in 1982, her name was Charlene Oliver by her subsequent marriage to Englishman Jeff Oliver. The single reached the top of the US pop and adult contemporary charts that year, and the concurrent release of her album I've Never Been to Me, was also relatively successful. The single was one of the year's biggest hits, and the video for the song was filmed at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, England and Charlene wore the wedding dress that she got married in.

"I've Never Been to Me" was featured as the opening song to the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The song is mimed onstage by two Sydney drag queens at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, Sydney, Australia. The latter performance includes a scene where a plastic "baby doll" (actually a rubber chicken) is hurled into the audience by one of the performing drag queens.

Lyrics:

I've Never Been To Me (R. Miller / K. Hirsch - Motown Records, Inc)

Hey lady, you lady
Cursing at your life
You're a discontented mother
And a regimented wife
I 've no doubt
You dream about the things you never do
But I wish someone had talked to me like I wanna talk to you

Oh, I've been to Georgia and California and anywhere I could run
Took the hand of a preacher man
And we made love in the sun
But I ran out of places and friendly faces
Because I had to be free
I've been to paradise but I've never been to me...

Please lady please lady
Don't just walk away
Cause I have this need to tell you
Why I'm all alone today
I can see so much of me still living in your eyes
Won't you share a part of a weary heart that has lived a million lives

Oh, I've been to Nice and the isle of Greece
When I sipped champagne on a yacht
I moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo
And showed them what I've got
I've been undressed by kings
And I've seen some things that a woman ain't s'pose to see
I've been to paradise but I've never been to me...

Hey, you know what paradise is?
It's a lie
A fantasy we created about people and places as we 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 are gonna make love to tonight
That's truth, that's love

Sometimes I've been to crying for unborn children
That might have made me complete
But I, I took the sweet life
I never knew I'd be bitter from the sweet
I spent my life exploring
The subtle whoring
That costs too much to be free
Hey lady I've been to paradise
But I've never been to me...

I've been to paradise but I've never been to me...

[timheavrin]

One of the most under rated of singers. She was great!

[種田茂-dn]

being a housewife and a mother of a child, how precious it to be. you never learn it until you lose it. word of a philosopher.

[TheAlBeiruty]

I was driving Taxi in Chicago in 82's, I loved this song, 30 years later it popped into my mind the song, and I remember the Lyric only from Monte Carlo to the Isles of Greece, I never been into me, I found her name Charlene, the sad part she had very short livecareer and the song keep popping in my mind once a while, its a Great memory to listen to this song..

[eagleeye]

truer word for most. What an equisite voice. What has happened to REAL talent?

[lorenzomojicaschneider]

This song is simply the one I will never forget.says a lot of what I've gone trough in life and the exact same places I been...life made a different turn in mine leading to a greater life, !

[laydbakk]

I never really listened to what this song was really all about before but, I can see the subtle wisdom in it... Searching the world to explore everything we might dream comes at the cost of sometimes forgetting to explore ourselves and, our own lives... Nicely done...

[shachardave]

Beautiful lady with a beautiful voice, such a shame she's almost completely unknown by most.

[frankfuller]

Women in the 80's were so much lovelier and feminine!!!

[grievingmom]

I remember my mother listening to this when I was young and now listening to the words, as a mother myself, I really wish I could have had more time to talk about her life before she passed to get a better picture of who she was before it was too late to ask.

[Struwelpeter]

I remember this song came out in '82 (the re-release) when I was on maneuvers in Key West (stationed in Ft. Bragg, NC) - They played it all the time on the radio, along with Bertie Higgins "Key Largo"....Not bad, easy listening songs. 

[yukonpride]

The song simply makes me feel good. I don't know or care why.

[chris]

Charlene hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 5/22/82. Thanks for posting it! :)

[lincolngilsilva]

I took a great message with this song for me and my wife. Well, I can tell you i've been around the world for some years and I can see myself today exactly with the same thoughts... And listen for the experience of others. It's a great part of life when we start understanding better the life. Best regards to all...

[vickydeurbrouck]

I remember this song!!! My best friend made me a mixed cassette tape of songs way back in the 80's when i was a young teenager and this was my all time favorite song.. over the years and many many moves i lost the cassette and stumble a cross a CD that had this song on it and fell in love with the song all over again.. Brings back sweet memories of us!!!

[stephentang]

The spoken bridge was an important part of the song. It made the song complete.

[DaveWollenberg]

Billboard's #38 hit of the '82 survey year. Charlene D'Angelo hit #3 in Billboard, 5-22-82. Thanx for postin' it. Have a blessed weekend!

[edfolway]

great song, they don, t make them like that enymore 👍👍👍

[angelsallover]

I know alot of women who bought into the lie...the lie leaves you alone and in regret...fortunately at the end of the day, the end of all those whoring years of idolatry there is hope and a renewing. The great Shepherd leads the brokenhearted out of the mirage wastelands of life. ...."I shall not WANT." Misdirected wanting leads to a very lonely walk into the fake paradise eventually stripping you of you. Tragic.
In the shadows of your life the shrpherd stands, come follow me.

[unicornsarereal]

I remember this song but I still want to be free.... to each their own, I never wanted a caged, discontented life and in 2020 you can go into still a great song at the time...

[orientalflux]

everytime I feel sad, I always come here