I Know Where I've Been Lyrics – Hairspray

Song Overview

I Know Where I’ve Been is the movement-song at the heart of Hairspray - the civil-rights hymn that turns a story about dance shows into a march. Composed by Marc Shaiman with lyrics by Scott Wittman, it entered the world with the 2002 Broadway musical, then reached a global audience when Queen Latifah, as Motormouth Maybelle, recorded it for the 2007 film.

Latifah also cut a studio version for her jazz-pop album Trav’lin’ Light, released by Verve on September 25, 2007, where the track appears as the closer.

Review and Highlights

The arrangement stands still while the world changes around it: slow 12-8 pulse, church organ shading, choir that arrives like a congregation forming at the back of the room. Latifah’s vocal floats above a low center - resolute, unfussy - and the lyric lands like testimony. On screen this plays during the march sequence, the one moment the movie lets the camera stop smiling and listen.

Creation History

Stage to screen is the lineage. The song debuted in the 2002 Broadway score, sung by Mary Bond Davis, and returned in 2007 with Queen Latifah for the film soundtrack, issued July 10, 2007 on New Line Records. Latifah’s separate studio take anchors her album Trav’lin’ Light later that September.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Inside Hairspray, Motormouth Maybelle leads a march to integrate the Corny Collins Show. The number frames that march as legacy - grief named, hope chosen - and gives the film its spine.

Song Meaning

It is a modern gospel ballad about memory and direction. The verses hold the history - loss, cost, stubborn faith - and the refrain answers with forward motion. The bridge, where solo voice becomes call-and-response, turns private resolve into communal will.

Annotations

“There’s a light in the darkness - though the night is black as my skin”

Light and darkness split the stage: hope vs. hate. The simile yokes lived Blackness to the physical night, then insists on the counter-light anyway.

“There’s a cry asking why, I pray the answer’s up ahead”

Two readings, both true: answer in the future on earth, or answer in heaven after the work is done.

“There’s a road we’ve been travelin’ - lost so many on the way”

A roll call without names: enslaved ancestors, lynched citizens, murdered organizers. The line refuses amnesia.

“There’s a dream in the future”

MLK is in the air - the lyric prefigures 1963 while speaking to 1962 Baltimore in the plot. The dream is personal too: families free to love in public.

“’Cause just to sit still would be a sin”

A moral shove - silence helps the problem. The song makes action an article of faith.

Style and instrumentation

12-8 gospel feel, Hammond colors, tremolo guitar swells, and a choir that blooms from unison to harmony. The production leaves space for text; the beat never rushes.

Historical context

Set in 1962, the scene nods to Black church traditions - call and response, communal vow - and to the civil-rights cadence of singing while walking.

Key Facts

• Artist: Queen Latifah (film version as Motormouth Maybelle; separate studio version on Trav’lin’ Light)
• Composer: Marc Shaiman
• Lyricist: Scott Wittman
• First release: Hairspray original soundtrack - July 10, 2007, New Line Records
• Album appearance: Queen Latifah - Trav’lin’ Light (Verve), released September 25, 2007
• YouTube official clip ID: kiK72oWvsDw
• Stage placement: Act II march sequence led by Motormouth Maybelle

Questions and Answers

Who wrote “I Know Where I’ve Been”?

Marc Shaiman composed the music; Scott Wittman wrote the lyrics.

Where can I hear the official film version?

On the 2007 motion picture soundtrack and on WaterTower’s official YouTube upload.

Is there a Queen Latifah album version?

Yes - it appears as the closing track on her 2007 album Trav’lin’ Light on Verve.

Did the soundtrack make a chart impact?

Yes. The album peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard 200, spent nine weeks in the top 10, went Gold in September 2007 and Platinum in December, and received a 2008 Grammy nomination.

Notable later performances?

Jennifer Hudson’s rendition in NBC’s Hairspray Live! (2016) was widely cited as the broadcast’s emotional high point.

Awards and Chart Positions

Soundtrack milestones: The 2007 film album rose to no. 2 on the Billboard 200, logged nine weeks in the top 10, earned RIAA Gold in September and Platinum by December, and received a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack.

Latifah album context: Trav’lin’ Light reached the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart and drew Grammy attention of its own the following year.

How to Sing I Know Where I’ve Been

Vocal range and placement: Mezzo-soprano or contralto center; sit low and warm, then blossom into mixed power on the refrain. Keep vibrato even and defer big scoops until the final climb.

Breath and phrasing: It’s through-sung testimony. Map breaths at line breaks - “There’s a road… we must travel” - so each thought lands complete. Aim for legato on verse couplets, then let the consonants preach on the call-and-response.

Tempo and feel: 12-8 gospel sway. Do not rush the triplets. Let the choir entrance widen the dynamic rather than the tempo.

Interpretation: Name the cost without melodrama. The power comes from steadiness - a witness who refuses to look away.

Additional Info

In 2016’s Hairspray Live!, Jennifer Hudson’s Maybelle delivered a version many critics flagged as the night’s summit, underlining how the number has traveled beyond its plot into broader civic ritual.