The Intro

When US easy listening singer Charlene originally released I’ve Never Been to Me for Motown in 1977, it left little mark. In 1982, she was working in a sweet shop in Ilford when the song was rereleased and subsequently went to number 1.

Before

Charlene Marilynn D’Angelo was born on 1 June 1950 in Hollywood, California. In 1973, she was signed to Motown, aged 23. Using her married name, Charlene Duncan, she released two singles. Neither Relove or All That Love Went to Waste a year later made any impression.

She then spent some time writing her own songs and recording demos – including One Day in Your Life, which became Michael Jackson’s first UK number 1 in 1981.

In 1976 she dropped her surname and recorded her eponymous debut album with producer Ron Miller, who had worked with Stevie Wonder, co-writing his hit For Once in My Life. I’ve Never Been to Me, which had been released by Randy Crawford earlier that year, was the second track.

The song had been written by Miller, with Kenneth Hirsch, and appears to come from the viewpoint of a bohemian woman, addressing a ‘discontented mother and a regimented wife’ who longs to escape her mundane existence.

Charlene’s second LP, the boringly named Songs of Love, came out a year later. It was basically a reshuffled version of Charlene. I’ve Never Been to Me was issued as a single, with the spoken-word section edited out. It only made it to number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Although another album was planned, it never materialised, and following the failure of the 1980 single Hungry, from the musical Daddy Goodness, Charlene was dropped by Motown.

Fast forward three years, and Scott Shannon, a disc jockey for Tampa radio station WRBQ-FM (and former Motown employee), played the album version of I’ve Never Been to Me at the behest of his girlfriend. It became so popular, Shannon contacted the label’s president Jay Lasker. Seizing the opportunity, Lasker somehow tracked Charlene down. She had married an Englishman in March and was living in Ilford, working in a sweetshop. Of course, Charlene was more than willing to re-sign with Motown and then the album version of I’ve Never Been to Me was issued as a single.

Review

I’ve Never Been to Me is a terrible song. It’s patronising, slushy tripe with terrible lyrics. Basically, the lyrical conceit revolves around this woman listing all these incredible things she’s done – she’s travelled the world, slept with kings, sipped champagne, all kinds of things that the poor wife and mother could only dream about. But, hey, guess what? She’s ‘never been to me’, which is a crap way of saying she isn’t fulfilled and that, really, the mother is the lucky one, because she has done the most meaningful thing a woman can do.

Except, it’s all to easy to argue back, why can self-fulfilment for a woman only happen if you serve others, as a wife and mother? None of that ‘subtle whoring’ the narrator has been up to! It’s offensive to both women in the song. Lazy, stereotypical crap. And just in case you haven’t grasped the message of the song, there’s a cheesy spoken-word section to really hammer it home.

Oh, and when the lyrics do try to be symbolic, they’re so bad they create unnecessary controversy. ‘Sometimes I’ve been to cryin’ for unborn children/That might have made me complete’ made many understandably wonder if the narrator is revealing she had undergone multiple abortions. That’ll teach the subtle whore! Turns out, the intention was simply that she was mourning unborn children she may have had if she hadn’t been so bohemian.

For the video, the recently remarried Charlene wore her wedding dress, sauntering around Blickling Hall forlornly.

After

I’ve Never Been to Me became inexplicably huge, reaching number 1 in the UK, Canada, Ireland and Australia. It went to three in the US, becoming the first top 10 hit for Motown by a white singer. An album was released with the same name, containing a mix of old and new recordings. However, Charlene couldn’t repeat her surprise success. Her third single, It Ain’t Easy Coming Down, was reissued, but sank, despite appearing in the film The Last American Virgin.

Later in the year, she teamed up with Stevie Wonder on the single Used to Be. Despite Wonder’s number 1 success with Paul McCartney, this also tanked. Although that may have been due to its controversial lyrics – Wonder may have been commenting on the way he feared society was heading, but singing ‘Have another Chivas Regal/You’re 12-years old and sex is legal.’ resulted in an outright ban in the UK.

In 1984 Charlene released the LP Hit & Run Lover, which had a more modern sound, but it bombed. After an appearance in the Motown martial arts film (!) The Last Dragon, she was dropped by her label again.

In 2002, Charlene, now back in the US, released a dance remix of her hit, and has been sporadically releasing material online as Charlene Oliver since 2012.

The Outro

I’ve Never Been to Me has surfaced many times since 1982, including appearances in Will & Grace, Desperate Housewives, Shrek the Third (2007) and most memorably in the opening of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994).

The Info

Written by

Ron Miller & Kenneth Hirsch

Producers

Ron Miller, Don Costa & Berry Gordy

Weeks at number 1

1 (26 June-2 July)

Trivia

Deaths

26 June: Snooker player Kingsley Kennerley/Comedian Sandy Powell
30 June: Children’s author Malcolm Saville

Meanwhile…

2 July: Roy Jenkins, former Labour Party Home Secretary and Chancellor, is elected as Leader of the Social Democratic Party.