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malthaussen

(17,066 posts)
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 11:57 AM Oct 2018

The really vain one in "You're So Vain..."

... is the narrator, who is so vain she thought the pigs she was singing about would think she was so special, they'd treat her differently from all the other girls.

I don't think that's exactly what Carly had in mind.

-- Mal

16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The really vain one in "You're So Vain..." (Original Post) malthaussen Oct 2018 OP
I always heard it was about Warren Beatty. Easy to believe (nt) Paladin Oct 2018 #1
The second verse was, according to Carly. malthaussen Oct 2018 #2
only the second verse speaks to her own personal involvement, and she calls herself naive unblock Oct 2018 #3
A good point. malthaussen Oct 2018 #5
Martin Mull's take Cartoonist Oct 2018 #4
I love Martin Mull. peekaloo Oct 2018 #9
she said in her bio jodymarie aimee Oct 2018 #6
I heard David Cassidy was one of the three. Power 2 the People Oct 2018 #7
Crosby perhaps jodymarie aimee Oct 2018 #11
Carly Simon did this song not Joni Mitchell Power 2 the People Oct 2018 #12
here you go.... jodymarie aimee Oct 2018 #13
I had heard it was Mick Jagger. llmart Oct 2018 #8
an old line from the early SNL comes to mind peekaloo Oct 2018 #10
Does anyone else find it annoying that she's been milking this "secret" for 45 years? flibbitygiblets Oct 2018 #14
Not really. malthaussen Nov 2018 #15
And ironically (thankfully!) Paul is still with us. Way past 64 too! flibbitygiblets Nov 2018 #16

malthaussen

(17,066 posts)
2. The second verse was, according to Carly.
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 12:06 PM
Oct 2018

The song is about three guys, at least. Basically, everybody in the circle she was running with at the time was like that.

Lie down with dogs, arise with fleas.

-- Mal

unblock

(51,974 posts)
3. only the second verse speaks to her own personal involvement, and she calls herself naive
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 12:22 PM
Oct 2018

i suppose one could imagine she had known her love interest was a cad but thought he'd treat her differently. but if she ever thought that, calling herself naive makes it clear she no longer sees it that way. again, if she ever did in the first place.

the first and third verses are really just observations about someone else, not sure you can really pin any vanity on her there.

malthaussen

(17,066 posts)
5. A good point.
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 12:29 PM
Oct 2018

And naivete is not exactly the same as vanity. But then, "You had me several years ago when I was quite naive" is somewhat disingenuous, since it was not "several years" since the subjects of the song had her. Although some emotional occurrences can seem like years.

-- Mal

Cartoonist

(7,298 posts)
4. Martin Mull's take
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 12:29 PM
Oct 2018

While praising himself he said, "I'd better stop talking or Carly will write another one about me. "

peekaloo

(22,977 posts)
9. I love Martin Mull.
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 01:34 PM
Oct 2018

Had a teenage crush on him in the '70's and bought a few of his albums.

So glad to see him still around via "The Cool Kids" although Leslie Jordan steals that show.

Power 2 the People

(2,437 posts)
12. Carly Simon did this song not Joni Mitchell
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 02:55 PM
Oct 2018

Crosby and Cassidy were both implicated. Cassidy was 22 at the time the song was written. Carly was 27.

In 2010, she teased us with yet another clue when she told Uncut magazine that she was planning to re-record “You’re So Vain.” She said that playing the new recording backwards would reveal the name. “There’s a little whisper — and it’s the answer to the puzzle,” she said. One of her representatives confirmed that the whispered name was “David.”

A number of “Davids” were therefore considered: l’enfant terrible David Crosby, teen idol David Cassidy, media mogul David Geffen, and gender-bending David Bowie, who she didn’t even know back in 1971.


But the line "Well I hear you went to Saratoga and your horse, naturally, won" seems to point directly to Cassidy. He was a long time race horse owner who summered in Saratoga for the races.

[link:http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/david-cassidy-passes-away/|]

 

jodymarie aimee

(3,975 posts)
13. here you go....
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 03:08 PM
Oct 2018

"I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren [Beatty]," Simon told People magazine. "Warren thinks the whole thing is about him!"

Simon, 70, released "You're So Vain" in 1972, around the time she married her now ex-husband James Taylor. The song's second verse contains the lyrics, "You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive/Well you said that we made such a pretty pair, and that you would never leave./But you gave away the things you loved and one of them was me/I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee."

The other lyrics in the song, she said, refer to two other men, though she doesn't plan to reveal their identities anytime soon.

"At least [not] until they know it's about them," she said.

"I never thought I would admit that it was more than one person!" she added. "Why do [people] want to know? ... It's so crazy!"

flibbitygiblets

(7,220 posts)
14. Does anyone else find it annoying that she's been milking this "secret" for 45 years?
Wed Oct 31, 2018, 07:28 PM
Oct 2018

Either say it was about several people or STFU and stop being coy.

malthaussen

(17,066 posts)
15. Not really.
Thu Nov 1, 2018, 11:01 AM
Nov 2018

I was never really interested in knowing who it was (or they were), but if it helps other people get through the night, well, s'okay.

What I really want to know is: Is Paul dead?

-- Mal

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