The song"I’ve Been Everywhere", by Lucky Star, covered I believe by Johnny Cash.
The song ends with this line:
“You’ve been to every place except one, and you don’t need my help to get there.”
What is the place to which he hasn’t been, and why does he not need help to get there?
Hell?
Hell was going to be my guess too. But then I thought “well, he hasn’t been to heaven either…” And that would be two places he hasn’t been. But I’m probably overthinking it.
Hank Snow made it a #1 hit in the USA; Cash covered it later on. It has a different ending, also, with the backup singers singing the line “I know someplace you haven’t been.” and Snow replying “I have been everywhere.”
Hell seems to be a common opinion here and elsewhere. Other suggestions being heaven, death in general and something sexual.
He does say he’s a killer.
I just listened to the Stompin’ Tom version of the song. The way he ends it makes me think that the one place he hasn’t been is the exact place he is hitching to.
No-one goes as fast as Lucky Starr. Eminem should do a version, he’s the only one who can sing fast enough.
Having just listened to Lucky Starr’s original, the tag line in the OP is given by the man who stopped to give the singer a ride.
I think the intention, given the song was written for an Australian audience and from the way the driver said the line, he was telling him to go to buggery [traditional Australian idiom - ‘hell’ or even ‘heck’ will probably get you half points].
And checking the lyrics, on a rough count there are 94 place names mentioned, and I’m pretty sure I’ve been to 47, so exactly half. Could become a good retirement project.
Oh, that’s fun. I’ve only got 31 (for sure - may have driven through a few of the smaller ones). Lived in 3, though.
And - triva question! Which town referenced in the Australian version, was also mentioned in a US Top-10 song in the '60s?
This New Zealand version even mentions my home town. Well, village really.
I’ve been to about half the places listed in this one.
Well, he’s been under the big sun of Mercury, visited the oceans of Venus, fought the pirates of the asteroids, walked the moons of Jupiter and touched the rings of Saturn. So… Uranus?
snerk
Thank God it wasn’t just me.
Oh I’ve been to Nice and the isle of Greece
While I sipped champagne on a yacht
I 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 s’posed to see
I’ve been to paradise, but I’ve never been to me
The classic Canadian version:
“Stay the blazes home” - Stephen McNeil, Premier of Nova Scotia
Let’s see, Lucky Starr has been to the asteroid belt, Venus (and lived!), Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn. So Mars, Uranus, and Neptune maybe?
But it’s the first thing I thought of, too.