I've Never Been to Me

I've Never Been to Me is a Motown song, originally released in 1976.

The song has an interesting history: between 1976-1978 it was released no fewer than eight times in varying forms, wouldn't become a hit until a 1982 re-release after an American DJ began playing the song locally, and over a decade after that would be co-opted by drag queens and the LGBTQ+ crowd as a minor anthem (notwithstanding the song's lyrics about authenticity).

Content

The lyrics are sung in first person narrative, from the perspective of a woman who has lived a glamorous life, to a woman who is angry about being no more than a wife and mother.

The singer mentions the things she has done (both good and, in many cases, hedonistic) and wishes that someone would have told her what she is trying to tell the other woman: that "I've been to Paradise, but I've never been to me", implying that her lifestyle has left her empty and unhappy, and that truth and life can be found in marriage and motherhood. (One lyric, where the woman mentions "crying for unborn children that might have made me complete", has been interpreted to mean that the singer has had one or more abortions and now regrets it; however, the songwriters have stated that the lyric is not intended to be interpreted that way.)

Release History

Unless otherwise stated, the release discussed did not chart. The song was originally recorded in 1976 by Veronica "Randy" Crawford.

Motown singer Charlene, one of the first White female singers signed to the Motown label, would release the song twice:

• First in 1976 under the independent Prodigal record label (with a notable, though controversial, spoken word bridge), and
• In 1977 under Motown (without the bridge); the release would chart on the Billboard Hot 100 but would only reach #97.

1977 would see two other artists release the song:

• Nancy Wilson (a jazz singer, not to be confused with the singer from the female duo Heart), whose version would reach #47 on the Billboard R&B chart, and
• Walter Jackson (a soul singer); this version would be re-written from the perspective of a dying homeless man trying to warn a young "hellraiser" of his ways.

Three more releases took place in 1978:

• Mary McGregor would release a mid-tempo version in February of that year, with part of the lyrics rewritten to remove some considered controversial; it would reach #29 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart as well as the Canadian chart,
• Marti Caine, and
• Mary Roos would release a German rendition.

The Revival

In 1982, Scott Shannon (a Tampa-area DJ and former Motown employee) began playing Charlene's original 1976 version on a local radio station. Long before the Internet and the rise of "social media", in a best of the public moment, the song became a local hit. Still having connections to Motown executives, and even though Charlene had left the industry - and the country, having married an Englishman and emigrated to the UK, operating a local sweetshop - the song was re-released, making it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.