You're so Vain by Carly Simon mystery man

OK, who is this song about?

Here are clues she's given out. There is an A, E and R in the name. It's not mentioned in any articles on this song, but I'm 99.9% positive that I saw an interview with her where she said that there was a B in the name.


Carly Simon finally reveals the subject of You're So Vain... record producer David Geffen

By Lizzie Smith for MailOnline
Updated: 08:39 EST, 26 February 2010


For years there has been debate about which of Carly Simon's ex-boyfriends could have inspired the hit song You're So Vain.

But while former lovers Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson, Cat Stevens and Warren Beatty were left wondering whether 'this song is about you', they have been proved wrong.

For the Seventies singer has finally revealed the real inspiration behind her hit track wasn't a boyfriend at all - it was openly gay record producer David Geffen.

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However, in other articles I've read she laughs about it being about Geffen. The following excerpt is from Rolling Stone:

..."What a riot! Nothing to do with David Geffen! What a funny mistake! Someone got a clue mistaken for another mistake," Simon said in an e-mail to Showbiz 411. "How can this guessing game stop without a lie?" Simon adds that she never even knew Geffen in 1971 when the song was written, which if Simon has her timeline correct, means "You're So Vain" was penned prior to when Simon's label Elektra Records merged with Geffen's Asylum Records in 1972, the date Geffen assumed control of the combined companies....

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...target-is-david-geffen-20100301#ixzz3P89V0p5A

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Geffen fails the A, E, R and B test as well. His full name is David Lawrence Geffen.

http://wxrt.cbslocal.com/2013/01/04/the-story-behind-carly-simons-youre-so-vain/

...In a re-recorded version of the song in 2010, Simon is said to have whispered the name of that person backwards and her publicist revealed that the whispered name was David. New speculation that the name referred to Simon’s former boss at Elektra Records, David Geffen, and that the song had been inspired by her jealousy of the attention Geffen had lavished on label-mate Joni Mitchell. However, at the time she wrote the song in 1971, she hadn’t even met Geffen yet....


So if we go by the name "David" that significantly narrows it down. It has to be a David with an A, E, R and B in the name. I'd heard a rumor years ago that it was about David Blue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Blue_(musician)

This doesn't fit the A, E, R and B theory unless you take his real name, Stuart David Cohen, and mix it with David Blue then everything is satisfied. She whispers "David" as the clue on the re-recording. So David Blue seems to meet all the criteria.

The only problem I have with this is that I can't find anything linking David Blue and Carly together, other than them both being part of the Greenwich Village scene, and both contracted with Elektra Records at around the same time. They were very close in age and Blue crossed paths with many of Carly's contemporary artists. So there is a tenuous link. The song sounds like the person she's singing about had a significant relationship with her.

Here are the lyrics:

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
You're so vain,
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you?
Don't you?

Oh, you had me several years ago
When I was still 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
Clouds in my coffee, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, you're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you?
Don't you?

Well I hear you went to Saratoga
And your horse, naturally, won
Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well, you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not, you're with some underworld spy
Or the wife of a close friend,
Wife of a close friend, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, you're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you?
Don't you?

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The one line I cant' seem to get past is: "You flew your Lear Jet to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun."

As far as I know David Blue or any other guys mentioned were pilots. She could mean "in your Lear Jet"

David Blue, as far as I know wasn't filthy rich.

What's your guess. Try and support it with facts that make you think who it is. :waitasec:

Here all these years I was flipping a coin either WB or MJ

First I'd heard the term 'gavotte,' I recall. Also last, possibly.

Back when it came out I had heard it was about Mick Jagger, but I have no idea if it's not him.

Confusion said:

Back when it came out I had heard it was about Mick Jagger, but I have no idea if it's not him.

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Carly's ruled out Mick. He also doesn't fit the clues. After the song was released Warren Beatty called her and thanked her for the song, but I believe she's ruled him out too. He's not named David.

I also guess it makes Warren Beatty very vain anyway.

My guess has always been Warren Beatty I really have no evidence to support that, but the letters in the clue fit.

LaborDayRN said:

My guess has always been Warren Beatty I really have no evidence to support that, but the letters in the clue fit.

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His name isn't David though. :thinking:

I read an article from 2010 that said she admitted it was inspired by David Geffen, so she may just give false clues to keep people guessing.

Confusion said:

I read an article from 2010 that said she admitted it was inspired by David Geffen, so she may just give false clues to keep people guessing.

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Quite true. :dunno:

Confusion said:

I read an article from 2010 that said she admitted it was inspired by David Geffen, so she may just give false clues to keep people guessing.

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There are articles in the OP that say she laughs about it being Geffen. A lot of people reported it was Geffen in 2010, but it wasn't coming from Carly. At least I couldn't find anything where she said it was Geffen.

As long as we're talking about David Geffen here are some things about him:

He's supposedly a big :butthead:

He sued Neil Young for making uncommercial albums after Neil submitted the album "Old Ways" to him after signing with his label.

Neil Young didn't like being told he had to only record rock and roll albums. This led to the release of Neil Young's "Everybody's Rockin" album. It's an album that harkens back to the origins of rock and roll and it's the shortest album Neil's ever released.

Eventually Geffen agreed to release "Old Ways" but it was gutted from it's original form. (According to Neil's biographer)

This is just a rumor I've heard. Someone walked into a restaurant that Geffen was eating at and punched him the face. The people at the restaurant exploded into applause. (That might just be an urban legend.)

It has to be true, it was in the Daily Mail! :happydance:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...re-So-Vain--record-producer-David-Geffen.html

For the Seventies singer has finally revealed the real inspiration behind her hit track wasn't a boyfriend at all - it was openly gay record producer David Geffen.

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I always thought she was singing about you Steely, you old sly dog.

I've always assumed it was warren Beatty

When she denied it was Warren Beatty, I thought the only other possibility would be that emu rancher up in Rochester.

Nah, it was about Howard Tennenbaum... Guy I "dated" in 7th grade. Ladies man. Wish I knew what happened to him.

P.S. I still have this album!

Speaking of, I had a one-night "fling" with a long-time friend who looked uncannily like Carly. (No, actually, F. looked even better.) She said (amid much laughter; ah! --the good ol' daze) that if she'd have written this song undoubtedly it would have been about me (! yeah right). So, yeah -- Mick, Kris, Warren, me -- for one night back in the '70s, you couldn't have gone wrong, lol. (I've heard the David Geffen supposition too long ago; always figured maybe she'd also written the great "Boys in the Trees" with him in mind.)

Here are clues she's given out. There is an A, E and R in the name.

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When and where did she give that clue? Has she said when she will divulge the answer?

You mentioned her saying Jagger is ruled out, but it sounds exactly like him.

Did she ever have a fling with Bowie? He would fit the "pretty" and fashion parts.

Now I want a cup of coffee, hold the clouds.

Confusion said:

It has to be true, it was in the Daily Mail! :happydance:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...re-So-Vain--record-producer-David-Geffen.html

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I think they took her whispering "David" and then guessed Geffen. In the OP Carly laughs at it being about Geffen. Also, he's openly gay.

TrackerSam said:

I always thought she was singing about you Steely, you old sly dog.

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No, she wrote "Nobody Does it Better" about me.

Boodles said:

When and where did she give that clue? Has she said when she will divulge the answer?

You mentioned her saying Jagger is ruled out, but it sounds exactly like him.

Did she ever have a fling with Bowie? He would fit the "pretty" and fashion parts.

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Bowie is missing the R. Also, it seems to be about an American. The line "Well I hear you went to Saratoga
And your horse, naturally, won"

That makes me believe that it's a New Yorker because Saratoga raceway is in NYS about five hours from NYC.

This is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_So_Vain

...On June 19, 2008 Howard Stern claimed that Simon had privately revealed to him about whom the song was written after her interview on his popular radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio. Stern commented, "There is an odd aspect to it ... he's not that vain." On March 17, 2009 again on his program, Stern claimed that she had said it was a "composite of three people". Stern repeated this on May 5, 2014 claiming, "she takes me aside, pulls me close, whispers in my ear.. three names. She goes, it wasn't one person, it was three people." Stern thought that one of the names was Warren Beatty and another might be David Geffen, but said that he "forgot."...