1,249.) Mon May 4, 2020

The Song of the Day is:

Carly Simon – “You’re So Vain”

From the album No Secrets (1970)

You walked into the party
Like you were walking on a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf, it was apricot
You had one eye on the mirror
And watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they’d be your partner
They’d be your partner, and

You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you

Carly Simon

As this song came on the radio, my wife and Junior had a discussion about what it meant to be vain, and why the singer would be making such an accusation. This is Carly Simon’s most famous song, and part of the reason is the speculation at the subject of the song. She has acknowledged that the vain person she sung about is a very famous man. As young lady, she was very pretty and an heiress to the Simon and Schuster publishing fortune, thus attracting a number of famous potential suitors. This song certainly presents a conundrum, because the song is written about a man who is vain enough to think this song is about him, but then again, it is. It is rumored that the subject of “You’re So Vain” is Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty or her then-husband James Taylor. Simon has not been completely forthcoming in her answers, releasing a few letters, years apart, of the offender’s full name. These letters have been A, E and R, so that’s not a whole lot of help in figuring out the mystery. It does seem that the influence might be a combination of these famous men, as she admitted at one point that Warren Beatty is the inspiration for the second verse, and only the second verse. If it was Mick Jagger, he may have been in on the joke, since he is singing back-up to Simon, and actually doing really great, subtle support work. And if it was James Taylor, well that didn’t ruin their marriage, seeing as they were at the beginning of their eleven years together. The song defined the image of the strong, urbane socialite Simon for the rest of the decade and she remains a baby-boomer favorite. She has wracked up a number of hit songs, and an impressive 23 studio albums between 1971 and 2009. Strangely, Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp covered this song in 2012.

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