Saturday, January 14, 2006

I've Never Been to Me

A beautiful song, by Charlene (whoever she is). Echoes of brokenness all over.


Hey lady, you lady
Cursing at your life
You're a discontented mother
And a regimented wife
I've no doubt you dream about
The things you'll never do
But I wish someone had talked to me
Like I wanna talk to you

Chorus:
Ooh I've been to Georgia and California
And anywhere I could run
I 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 broken heart
That has lived a million lies

Chorus:
Ooh I've been to Nice and the Isle of Greece
Where I've sipped champagne on a yacht
I've 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 supposed to see
I've been to paradise
But I've never been to me

Bridge:
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
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

Chorus:
Sometimes I've been to crying for unborn children
That might have made me complete
But I, I took the sweet life
I never knew I'd be bitter from the sweet
I've spent my life exploring
The subtle whoring
That costs too much to be free
Hey Lady, I've been to paradise
But I've never been to me

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i've heard of this song since I was a little girl of...about...six, i guess?

"I took the hand of a preacher man
And we made love in the sun"

and

"I've been undressed by kings
And I've seen some things
That a woman ain't supposed to see"

sounds so scandalous..Especially the latter...

This Charlene-lady is weird...at least, the person who wrote the lyrics is...

=)

siedne said...

heard it on light and easy so many times..yeah, didn't think u would like it ben, hehe. quite scandalous, as li-shia suggests :p

Anonymous said...

well, scandalous as it may sound, i just think it means that though she's done so much & had so many erm.. adventures?, she's never been able to truly 'discover' herself

(:

Anonymous said...

Hm. I like this song too.

Anonymous said...

Well, i think what the writer of this song intended was to address women who are whoring is that they are still worth something.

I remembered my father once told me, that this song was banned for sometime back in the 70s or 80s due to its scandalous wordings. But it seems to have been lifted of the ban list.

It's still a nice song. =)