I'VE NEVER BEEN TO ME - CHARLENE - (1977)

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.

Success of "I've Never Been to Me"

Charlene originally recorded "I've Never Been to Me" in 1976, and the single reached #97 on the USA's 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 United Kingdom (UK). The song has been her only Top 40 hit as of 2010. Charlene did three versions of the song, the initial version of which was actually the second version recorded. Her original (and ultimately most popular) version includes an expanded bridge, in which the singer makes an impassioned comparison between the noncommittal "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 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. Rumours and misconceptions still abound about both content and story of the song. For instance, the line "I've been to crying for unborn children" may lend itself to interpretation as a reference to abortion, or to simply having chosen to spend life without having children. The version with the spoken bridge released to success in 1982 is alternatively rumored to be either a rerecording of a previous version, or to be the original recording. Originally written from a male perspective, the song was rewritten for Charlene by Ron Miller. In Miller's version, the song is sung to a housewife who wishes to trade her ordinary life for the exciting life led by the singer. The singer describes some of her life's highlights in a bittersweet manner, as she wishes that someone had told her what she is telling the listener; she has learned too late what is truly important, as she now finds her life hollow and purposeless, having lost her true self: the "me" to which she has never been is the life she would have if she were not led astray by false notions. 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 dint of her subsequent marriage to Englishman Jeff Oliver. The single reached the top of the 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, which became a standard in pop music.[citation needed]The video for the song was filmed at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, England and Charlene is seen wearing the very same 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.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• I'VE
• NEVER
• BEEN
• TO
• ME
• CHARLENE
• Pop
• Romantic
• Music
• Country
• Traditional

[mptpopz]

just a real song hard to find

[MrLarson40]

@mptpopz Thanks for your comments, cheers.

[AsleepOnTotorosTummy]

I used to listen to the Priscilla soundtrack all the time with my older sister and know the lyrics to all of the songs. This one has always been my favourite!

[MrLarson40]

@AsleepOnTotorosTummy Thanks for your comments, cheers.

[helena1456]

Lindo.. Lindo!!! Parabéns!

[MrLarson40]

@helena1456 Muito obrigado, abraços.

[flungingpictures]

- MrLarson

Great slide show.

Play this song to the video of

Axe Excite's "Fallen Angels" ad

[cillavis]

Excellent song !

[MrLarson40]

@marcoshalfeld Eu sou brasileiro, moro em São Paulo, você é bem vindo, abraços. ......Ivan do Brasil, abraços.

[marcoshalfeld]

Mr. Larson40,

where are you from?

I wish you were here, in Brazil.

Thanks!

[MrLarson40]

@MartellusCarolus Thanks for your comments, cheers.