"I've Never Been to Me" by Charlene

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Wow, that is an oldie.

My problem even back then is that she claims to have “never been to me.” In fact, all she has been is to herself. The “me” she has been to was the real her. But she wants to make it sound like it was never the real her.

I found this sound to be as oddly strange as I did when it first came out back in the 80s.
 
Irishmom2 said:
Wow, that is an oldie.

My problem even back then is that she claims to have “never been to me.” In fact, all she has been is to herself. The “me” she has been to was the real her. But she wants to make it sound like it was never the real her.

I found this sound to be as oddly strange as I did when it first came out back in the 80s.
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ICXC NiKA
 
The song can be thought of as a classical midlife misgiving; someone, in this case female, wondering about the “road not taken” that is now too late.

She has indeed “been to her,” but her international, liberated life has run its course, and she has nothing to show for it. She wonders if the now impossible alternate “her” of marriage and motherhood would have been a better place to be.

ICXC NIKA
 
Perhaps when you’re done here, someone could explain ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’?
 
GEddie said:
The song can be thought of as a classical midlife misgiving; someone, in this case female, wondering about the “road not taken” that is now too late.

She has indeed “been to her,” but her international, liberated life has run its course, and she has nothing to show for it. She wonders if the now impossible alternate “her” of marriage and motherhood would have been a better place to be.

ICXC NIKA
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To me it was just a song that says a woman must be a wife and mother in order to be fulfilled and she is nothing without a man.
 
It was a wildly popular song around the world, and was covered by local vocalists in many countries.

It always seemed to me to have a subtle anti-abortion message - “Sometimes I’ve been to cryin’ for unborn children / That might have made me complete”
 
Actually, it’s my understanding that a version sung by Charlene originally came out in 1977.
 
I once met Charlene in fact at a charity fund-raiser and sat at a table with her.
Arizona_Mike said:
It always seemed to me to have a subtle anti-abortion message - “Sometimes I’ve been to cryin’ for unborn children / That might have made me complete”
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She once said in an interview that the reference is not taking a position on the abortion issue one way or the other.
 
signit said:
I once met Charlene in fact at a charity fund-raiser and sat at a table with her.

She once said in an interview that the reference is not taking a position on the abortion issue one way or the other.
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Makes sense. Nothing in the lyrics suggests abortion; the “unborn children” could as easily have remained unconceived.

In this context, unborn means “never born.” Her birth years are over.

ICXC NIKA
 
Sarcelle said:
To me it was just a song that says a woman must be a wife and mother in order to be fulfilled and she is nothing without a man.
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It can be interpreted feministically, that’s for sure.

ICXC NIKA
 
tomarin said:
Perhaps when you’re done here, someone could explain ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’?
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It was originally written for Meatloaf, but didn’t fit on the Bat out of Hell album. So it was made by the actual singer.

“Once upon a time I was falling in love, now I’m only falling apart.” My fifteen year old self though those were deep lyrics. Now I just wonder how much hairspray it took to get her hair to stay that way.
 
Sarcelle said:
To me it was just a song that says a woman must be a wife and mother in order to be fulfilled and she is nothing without a man.
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Hmm, I always thought it sounded like she’s regretting her past.

“I’ve been undressed by kings, and I’ve seen some things that a woman ain’t supposed to see.”
 
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