Video hit Charlene

Charlene - I've Never Been To Me

Charlene originally recorded this in 1976, and it got to #97 in the American charts. Six years later, it was re-released after a Florida radio station started playing it to great public acclaim, by which time Charlene had moved to England and was working in an Ilford, Essex sweet shop. The re-release became a huge hit in England as well. 

The song was originally written from a male perspective but was rewritten by Ron Miller for Charlene. The use of the line "I've been to crying for unborn children" was not written about 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.

There are many misconceptions about this song. The spoken bridge in the song was not about or did it mention abortion - it was deemed too feminist and when Charlene's first album was re-released in 1977, the spoken bridge had been deleted. 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. 

Charlene was signed to Motown Records, but this was her only hit.

When this song was first released in America 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, her name was then Charlene Oliver because of her marriage to Englishman Jeff Oliver. (thanks, Terry - Northampton, England)

This was used in the 1994 movie The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.

There have been several cover versions of this song by both male and female artists, including Nancy Wilson, Randy Crawford, The Temptations, Walter Jackson and Howard Keel.

Charlene filmed the video for the song at Blicking Hall, Norfolk, England in the very same dress that she got married in. 

The lyrics:

Hey lady, you, lady, cursin' at your life

You're a discontented mother and a rich inventive wife

I've no doubt you dream about the things you'll never do

But I wish someone had a talked to me like I wanna talk to you

Ooh I've been to Georgia and California, oh, 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 lies

Oh I've been to Nice and the isle of Greece

While I sipped champagne on a yacht

I moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo and showed 'em what I've got

I've been undressed by kings and I've seen some things

That a woman ain't s'posed 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 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

Sometimes I've been to cryin' for unborn children

That might have made me complete

But I, I took the sweet life and never knew I'd be bitter from the sweet

I spent my life exploring the subtle whoring that cost too much to be free

Hey lady, I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me

I've been to paradise, never been to me

(I've been to Georgia and California, and anywhere I could run)

I've been to paradise, never been to me

(I've been to Nice and the isle of Greece

While I sipped champagne on a yacht)

I've been to paradise, never been to me

(I've been to cryin' for unborn children)