"Been There" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artists

Clint Black Clint Patrick Black (born February 4, 1962) is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 1989, Black's debut album '' Killin' Time'' produced four straight number one singles on the ...

and

Steve Wariner Steven Noel Wariner (born December 25, 1954) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Initially a backing musician for Dottie West, he also worked with Bob Luman and Chet Atkins before beginning a solo career in the late 1 ...

that peaked at number 5 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart in 2000. It was released in January 2000, as the second single from Black's album ''

D'lectrified ''D'lectrified'' is the eighth studio album by American country music singer Clint Black, released on September 28, 1999. It is also the first album in Black's career that he produced by himself. The album was recorded entirely without electric ...

'', and the final Top Ten hit for Wariner on the country singles charts.

Content

"Been There" is vocal duet by Black and Wariner, both of whom wrote the song. In it, they both describe being in certain undesirable situations, such as waking up "in the middle of a dream that didn't come true". They tell each other that they have "been there" and "don't wanna go back again". The song features steel-string acoustic guitar accompaniment from Wariner, and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

accompaniment from Black, as well as

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

Dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

flourishes. Extended harmonica and acoustic guitar trade-offs, which were abridged on the single edit, finish off the song. Like all the other songs on ''D'lectrified'', "Been There" uses only acoustic instruments. The song is in the key of

A major A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...

with an approximate tempo of 96

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

and a vocal range of E-D. The verses feature a repeating pattern of A and D chords for three lines before ending on the chord progression G-D-A, while the chorus follows the progression Cm-D-Cm-Fm-Cm-D-G-E.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for this song begins with a static screen on the TV, then the camera zooms out, revealing it is coming from a TV. The scene then shows Black in bed with his pajamas, singing and playing a harmonica, as a band is shown through his outside window. The second verse shows Wariner watching TV and playing guitar in the living room of his house. The band shown in Black's window is also shown in Wariner's television. As soon as Wariner opens a door, scene changes between the two singers singing in different parts of a basement. Black then opens the door of his house, and the two are singing in a blue room. Towards the end of the music video, the scene changes back to Black's bedroom, with Black in his pajamas, as he is being lifted from his bed. After many changing scenes between Wariner's living room and the blue room, Black suddenly drops back on the bed, then gets up and climbs to the ceiling. During the last scene the video, scene changes between Black and Wariner in the blue room, playing their instruments, followed by a static screen, and Black walks back through it, and the band freezes, and the video ends.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 60 on the ''

chart dated January 15, 2000, and peaked at number 5 the chart dated April 15, 2000, staying for two consecutive weeks. The song also peaked at number 44 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In addition, it spent four non-consecutive weeks at Number One on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks charts in Canada.

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2000 singles Clint Black songs Steve Wariner songs Male vocal duets Songs written by Clint Black Songs written by Steve Wariner Song recordings produced by Clint Black RCA Records Nashville singles 1999 songs