You're So Vain
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| "You're So Vain" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Carly Simon | ||
| from the album No Secrets | ||
| Released | 1972 | |
| Format | 7" single | |
| Recorded | 1972 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 4:18 | |
| Label | Elektra | |
| Writer(s) | Carly Simon | |
| Certification | Gold | |
"You're So Vain" is a song written by and performed by Carly Simon in 1972.
The song is a sarcastic profile of a self-absorbed lover. The song was a number-one hit (it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in early 1973, and also spent two weeks at the top of the Adult Contemporary chart, her first #1 song on either chart), and spawned what many fans consider to be the biggest musical mystery of the era. There has been much debate over who exactly the song is about. Popular guesses on the subject include Mick Jagger (who sang backing vocals on the song), Cat Stevens, Warren Beatty, Kris Kristofferson, unfaithful fiancé William Donaldson, and Simon's ex-husband, James Taylor.
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[edit] Who is it about?
Despite these guesses and many interviews asking who it was, to this day Carly Simon has never publicly acknowledged in full whom the song is about. She commented in an interview that it was about "many vain men I've known in my life". This may make the line "you're so vain, you probably think this song is about you" more logically coherent than if it were about any single man.
In a 1989 interview, Simon acknowledged that the song is a little bit about Beatty but said that the subject of the song is a composite of three men from her L.A. days. [1]
Simon made another comment about the subject's identity as a guest artist on Janet Jackson's 2001 single "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)", which sampled "You're So Vain". In the song, Simon says "The apricot scarf was worn by Nick/there's nothing in the words that refer to Mick".
Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports and a friend of Simon, was the highest bidder for a Martha's Vineyard Possible Dreams charity auction offering in which the prize was the revelation of the person whom "You're So Vain" was about. A condition of that prize is that Ebersol would not reveal to anyone the actual subject. Later, Ebersol revealed that he was allowed by Simon to divulge a clue about the person's name:
"Carly told me that I could offer up to the entire world, a clue as to what she'll tell me when we have this night in about two weeks. And the clue is: the letter 'E' is in the person's name." Dick Ebersol on NBC's Today Show - August 5, 2003
In 2004 she told Regis Philbin "If I tell it, it's going to come out in dribs and drabs. And I've given out two letters already, an "A" and an "E". But I'm going to add one to it. I'm going to add an "R", in honor of you." (If Simon was not being flip, then of the above guesses, Jagger, Beatty, and Taylor would remain as potential candidates; Stevens, Kristofferson, and Donaldson are all missing one or more of the requisite letters.)
Several days after the identity of Watergate-era press source Deep Throat was revealed during the summer of 2005, a USA Today reporter asked Simon to name the subject of her song. Simon exclaimed with a laugh that it was "about Mark Felt!", who had claimed to be the legendary Watergate source. [2]
The speculation continues, yet many fans of the song continue to consider it more of a general, rather than specific, indictment of vanity.
[edit] References
Two solar eclipses ("Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun") were visible from Nova Scotia in the early 1970s. The first eclipse, on March 7, 1970 [3], was visible in the USA, but the second one, on July 10, 1972, was not [4]. The line "I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won," refers to the Saratoga Race Course meeting held in late July, August and early September in Saratoga Springs, New York. The meeting is known to be frequented by the rich and famous of New York and other places on the East Coast.
[edit] Covers
- The song has been covered by Chocolate Starfish, David Axelrod, Liza Minnelli, Chimira, Venice, Janet Jackson (who sampled the song in "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song is About You)", with Simon providing featured vocals), Anna Waronker, The Mountain Goats, Faster Pussycat, Romantic Guitar, Dres, and Smokie among others. The line "You're so vain; I bet you think this song is about you," was also used in the Nine Inch Nails song "Starfuckers, Inc." In 1990, composer John Oswald produced an early mashup, entitled "Vane", which digitally merged Simon's original with the cover version by Faster Pussycat. Queens of the Stone Age released as a b-side on their single 'Feel Good Hit of the Summer' a song called 'You're So Vague', the hook line of which is 'You're so vague, I bet you think this song ain't about you'.
- "You're So Vain" was Simon's breakthrough hit in the United Kingdom market, reaching #3 on the UK chart on its original release in 1973. The song was re-released there in the spring of 1991 to cash in on its inclusion in a commercial for Dunlop Tyres, and came very close to making the UK top 40 a second time, peaking at #41.
| Preceded by: "Me and Mrs. Jones" by Billy Paul |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single January 6, 1973 |
Succeeded by: "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder |
[edit] See also
- "You Oughta Know" - Alanis Morissette song with the same kind of mystery surrounding it
