You’re So Vain (Song)

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Album B-side – His Friends Are More Than Fond of Robin

“You’re So Vain” is a song written in 1971 by American singer and songwriter Carly Simon and released in November 1972. It is one of the songs with which Simon is most identified, and upon its release, reached No. 1 in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The song is ranked at No. 92 on Billboard‘s Greatest Songs of All Time. “You’re So Vain” was voted No. 216 in RIAA‘s Songs of the Century, and in August 2014, the UK’s Official Charts Company crowned it the ultimate song of the 1970s. In 2021, the song was ranked 495th on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song is a critical profile of a self-absorbed lover about whom Simon asserts “You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you.” The title subject’s identity has long been a matter of speculation, with Simon stating that the song refers to three men, only one of whom she has named publicly: actor Warren Beatty.

The distinctive bass guitar intro is played by Klaus Voormann. The strings were arranged by Simon and orchestrated by Paul Buckmaster, and Simon plays piano on the track.

Origin and subject of the song

Long before Simon recorded what would be known as “You’re So Vain”, the song was titled “Bless You, Ben”. The first words were: “Bless you, Ben. You came in when nobody else left off.” Simon felt dissatisfied with the lyrics and put the song away until she attended a party one night where a famous guest appeared. A friend told Simon the male guest entered as if he was “walking onto a yacht”. Simon incorporated the words into the melody of “Bless You, Ben” as she was composing on her piano, and the song took on a whole new meaning.

Before the song became a hit single in 1972, Simon told an interviewer that the song was about “men”, not a specific “man”.

In 1983, she said the song was not about Mick Jagger, who contributed uncredited backing vocals to it.

 In a 1993 book, Angie Bowie claimed to be the “wife of a close friend” mentioned in “You’re So Vain”, and that Jagger, for a time, had been “obsessed” with her. 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”. Simon said about the song, “The apricot scarf was worn by Nick [Delbanco]. Nothing in the words referred to Mick [Jagger].”

Shortly before the writing of the song, Simon was married to James Taylor; she has said that he was “definitely not” the subject of the song. David Bowie, David Cassidy and Cat Stevens have all been cited by the press as speculative candidates.

In August 2003, Simon agreed to reveal the name of the song’s subject to the highest bidder of the Martha’s Vineyard Possible Dreams charity auction. With the top bid of $50,000, Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports and a friend of Simon, won the right to know the name of the subject of “You’re So Vain”. A condition of the prize was that Ebersol not reveal the name. Ebersol said Simon allowed him 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.”

Over the years Simon had divulged “letter clues”. In 2004, Simon 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.”

In 2005, Simon’s ex-husband Jim Hart said he was sure that the song was not about anyone famous.

In a 2007 interview, Warren Beatty said, “Let’s be honest. That song was about me.” Simon had said in 1983 that Beatty “certainly thought it was about him—he called me and said thanks for the song…” In an interview for the 1978/1982 version of The History of Rock and Roll radio series, producer Richard Perry said that Simon was essentially referring to Beatty while also evoking other previous relationships in her life.

Howard Stern stated 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.” He also stated that she had said it was a “composite of three people.” Simon confirmed that she has given the names to a few people, including Stern.

In her 2008 book Girls Like Us, author Sheila Weller includes a detailed account of Simon’s love affair with musician Dan Armstrong, and suggests that he was the inspiration for “You’re So Vain”. Her heartbreak over eventually losing him inspired the song “Dan, My Fling”, which appears on her first album. Armstrong’s full name, Daniel Kent Armstrong, contains all three letters of Simon’s clue.

In a November 4, 2009, interview on WNYC, Simon said she had hidden the name of the subject in a then-new recording of the song. The next day, the program’s crew detected the name “David” concealed in a back-played whisper. However, Simon contradicted this, saying she had spoken “Ovid” both forwards and backwards, and that sounded like David. In February 2010, Simon reiterated that the name of the subject was whispered in a re-recording of “You’re So Vain”: “There’s a little whisper—and it’s the answer to the puzzle.” A representative for Simon stated that the name whispered during the song is “David”. Multiple media outlets then speculated that the subject was Elektra Records executive, David Geffen, which Jim Hart, Simon’s ex-husband and close friend, denied the following day. Simon said that when she wrote the song in 1971, she had not yet met Geffen. Simon’s publicist also confirmed the song was not about Geffen, but that there was indeed “a David who is connected to the song in some way, shape, or form”. Vanity Fair noted that in addition to “David”, “Warren” and an unintelligible name are whispered during the recording.

After her live performance of the song with Simon in July 2013, Taylor Swift stated that Simon had revealed the identity of the song’s subject to her in confidence.

In November 2015, Simon, promoting her about-to-be-published memoirs, said, “I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren (Beatty)” and added that “Warren thinks the whole thing is about him”. Simon added to the mystery by including “Now, that doesn’t mean that the other two verses aren’t also about Warren,” she told the BBC. “It just means that the second one is.”  The song originally had a fourth verse, possibly including another subject.

Carly Simon – You’re So Vain (Live On The Queen Mary 2)

Chart performance

The song was a No. 1 hit in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and reached No. 4 in Ireland and South Africa. Entering at No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 December 1972, the song took five more weeks to rise to the top of the chart, where it stayed for the first three weeks of 1973. It was replaced by Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition” and spent the next month in the runner-up spot. It also spent two weeks at the top of the Easy Listening chart in early 1973, her first No. 1 on either chart. “You’re So Vain” was Simon’s breakthrough hit in the United Kingdom, reaching No. 3 on the UK chart on its original release in 1973. The song was re-released in the UK in 1991 to cash in on its inclusion in a commercial for Dunlop Tyres, peaking at No. 41.

Personnel

From the No Secrets album liner notes:

• Carly Simon: Lead vocals, acoustic piano, string arrangement
• Jimmy Ryan: Guitar
• Klaus Voormann: Bass
• Jim Gordon: Drums
• Richard Perry: Percussion
• Paul Buckmaster: Orchestration

Mick Jagger contributed uncredited backing vocals for the song. When asked how this collaboration occurred, Simon said:

He happened to call at the studio. … I said “We’re doing some backup vocals on a song of mine, why don’t you come down and sing with us?”

References in the song

• Gavotte—used in the line “You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte”—is a French dance. In this context it can be taken to mean moving in a pretentious manner.
• Simon said the line “clouds in my coffee” came “from an airplane flight that I took with Billy Mernit, who was my friend and piano player at the time. As I got my coffee, there were clouds outside the window of the airplane and you could see the reflection in the cup of coffee. Billy said to me, ‘Look at the clouds in your coffee’.”
• The line “I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won” refers to the Saratoga Race Course horse-racing season held in late July, August, and early September in Saratoga Springs, New York. The season is frequented by the rich and famous of New York and other East Coast cities.
• The line “Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun” could refer to either of two solar eclipses visible from Nova Scotia in the early 1970s, on March 7, 1970, and July 10, 1972.

In popular culture

• In the Season 5 episode “When It Rains, It Pours” of the American TV series 30 Rock, Jack Donaghy, in a video message to his son, states that he wrote the song.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

Awards

• “You’re So Vain” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

Chocolate Starfish version

In 1993, Australian rock band Chocolate Starfish covered the song as their debut single from their self-titled debut album. The single reached No. 11 in Australia and No. 29 in New Zealand.

You Are So Vain Covers

• Olivia Rodrigo

• Dave Monk

• Graham Colton

• Marilyn Manson Feat. Johnny Depp

• Steve Petrunak

• The Hit Crew

• The Saxists

• Liza Minnelli

No Secrets (Carly Simon Album)

No Secrets is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released by Elektra Records on November 28, 1972.

Simon’s major commercial breakthrough, No Secrets spent five weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart and quickly went Gold, as did its lead single, “You’re So Vain“, which remained at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks and the Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks. The second single, “The Right Thing to Do“, reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The album was officially certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 12, 1997. It was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on November 11, 2011.

In 2000 No Secrets was ranked No. 997 in Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums. The making of the album, including commentary from many of the main musicians and production staff, was examined in the 2017 documentary Carly Simon: No Secrets, directed by Guy Evans for Eagle Rock Film Productions and broadcast on BBC Four.

Recording and packaging

“Angel from Montgomery” was recorded by Carly Simon in her first session for the No Secrets album which was produced by Paul Buckmaster and featured James Taylor‘s vocals and Danny Kortchmar on guitar. Simon recalls: “Elektra rejected [the tracks from that session] and…asked me to work with Richard Perry. [Elektra] didn’t think Buckmaster would produce a hit record for me”. Carly’s sister, Joanna Simon, sang background vocals for the album.

At the invitation of producer Richard Perry, Simon recorded the album at Trident Studios in London, where Perry was keen for Simon to work with engineer Robin Cable. Trident Studios had previously been the venue for the recording of notable albums including The Beatles‘ White Album, David Bowie‘s Space Oddity and Elton John‘s second album.

The photograph for the cover, taken by Ed Caraeff, was shot in front of the Portobello Hotel, on Stanley Gardens in London’s Notting Hill.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau’s Record Guide	B−

Initial reviews for No Secrets were mixed to positive. Robert Christgau, writing in Creem, said, “if a horse could sing in a monotone, the horse would sound like Carly Simon, only a horse wouldn’t rhyme ‘yacht’, ‘apricot’, and ‘gavotte’. Is that some kind of joke?” Stephen Holden in Rolling Stone concluded that “what finally makes No Secrets so refreshing is her singing, which conveys the finest spirit of patrician generosity.”

More recent reviews have been much more positive. For example, AllMusic‘s William Ruhlmann gave the album four-and-a-half stars (out of five). Ruhlmann noted that “You’re So Vain”, “set the album’s saucy tone, with its air of sexually frank autobiography and its reflections on the jet-set lifestyle.” He also stated that “now that she felt she had found true love, she was as willing to acknowledge her own mistakes and regrets as she was to point fingers.” He concluded that “Perry paid particular attention to Simon’s vocals and gave her music a new pop/rock ‘buoyancy that previous albums lacked’.”

“You’re So Vain” was also voted No. 216 in RIAA‘s Songs of the Century. It remains Simon’s biggest hit and is considered her signature song.

Awards

• “You’re So Vain” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the album’s liner notes.

Side one

xxx

xxx

xxx

xxx

xxx

Side two

xxx

xxx

xxx

xxx

xxx

Personnel

Musicians

• Carly Simon – lead vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (1, (uncredited (3)), 7), acoustic piano (1–4, 10), string arrangements (3), ARP synthesizer arrangements (4), acoustic guitar (5–8)
• David Hentschel – ARP synthesizer (4)
• Peter Robinson – acoustic piano (6)
• Nicky Hopkins – acoustic piano (7, 9)
• Bill Payne – organ (7)
• Paul Keough – acoustic guitar (5, 8)
• Lowell George – slide guitar (7)
• Jimmy Ryan – bass (1, 10), guitar (2, 3), acoustic guitar (4, 10), lead guitar (5), electric guitar (6–9)
• Klaus Voormann – bass (2, 3, 5–9)
• Andy Newmark – drums (1, 2, 6, 8, 10)
• Jim Gordon – drums (3, 5)
• Jim Keltner – drums (7, 9)
• Ray Cooper – congas (1, 9)
• Richard Perry – percussion (3)
• Bobby Keys – tenor saxophone (9)
• Kirby Johnson – string arrangements (1, 2, 5), horn arrangements (1), woodwind arrangements (2), conductor (5), electric piano (5)
• Paul Buckmaster – orchestration (3), synthesizers (6, 10); orchestra, synthesizer and woodwind arrangements (6, 10), conductor (6, 10)
• Vicki Brown – backing vocals (1, (uncredited) 3)
• Liza Strike – backing vocals (1), (uncredited) 3)
• Mick Jagger – backing vocals (uncredited) (3)
• James Taylor – backing vocals (7)
• Bonnie Bramlett – backing vocals (9)
• Linda McCartney – backing vocals (9)
• Paul McCartney – backing vocals (9)
• Doris Troy – backing vocals (9)

Production

• Richard Perry – producer
• Robin Geoffrey Cable – engineer, recording, remixing
• Mark Berry – recording
• Bill Schnee – engineer, remixing
• Doug Sax – disc cutting
• Robert L. Heimall – art direction, design
• Ed Caraeff – cover photography
• Peter Simon – inner sleeve photography
• David Katz – musicians contractor

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

[edit]

Certifications

Song featured in the movie

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (Film)

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Donald Petrie, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. It is based on the picture book of the same name by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long. The book has no narrative, only a list of comedic dating “don’ts”, so the characters and plot were both created specifically for the film. In the film, advertising executive Benjamin Barry makes a bet that he can make any woman fall in love with him, while women’s magazine writer Andie Anderson plans to write an article about how she led her boyfriend to dump her, putting them at cross-purposes after they choose each other as their romantic partners. Andie employs a number of the dating “don’ts” from the picture book in her efforts to get Ben to break up with her.

Plot

Andie Anderson is a writer for the women’s magazine Composure as the “How to”, subject-matter expert. She is bored and wishes she could write about more serious topics. After Andie’s friend Michelle experiences yet another break-up, she becomes despondent and says she is not attractive enough. Andie argues that the problem is rather her needy, excessively emotional behavior with men, and is inspired to write an article titled “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” in order to prove her point; she will begin dating a man and drive him away within 10 days simply by imitating Michelle’s behavior.

Advertising executive Benjamin Barry is looking to branch out from his usual remit of beer and sports campaigns, and lead a prestigious advertising campaign for a diamond company. At a bar, Ben’s boss, Phillip questions whether Ben has enough insight into the romance typically associated with diamonds. In response, Ben wagers he could make any woman fall in love with him. Phillip says that if he can achieve this before the ball that will take place in 10 days, he will allow Ben to lead the diamond campaign. Ben’s rivals, Judy Spears and Judy Green, were at the Composure magazine offices earlier in the day and know about Andie’s task. Seeing Andie at the bar, they pick her as the woman to be romanced by Ben.

Ben and Andie meet and soon start their quests, neither revealing their true intentions. Andie works hard to make Ben break up with her in order to complete her article, but Ben continues to stick around in hopes of making her fall in love with him. Andie gets Ben knocked out in a movie theater by talking aloud while watching a film, moves her things into his apartment, gets him a fern plant to represent their relationship and a Chinese Crested Dog, and takes him to a Celine Dion concert when he was under the assumption he was going to see a New York Knicks basketball game. However, she also occasionally lets her normal side show, which Ben begins falling for.

Fed up with the project, Andie throws a fit at Ben’s boys’ poker night to finally drive him to break up with her. However, Ben’s friends Tony and Thayer push him to stay the course by proposing couples counseling with Andie. Andie has Michelle pose as a couples therapist and suggest Ben is ashamed of Andie. Ben counters by offering to introduce her to his family in Staten Island for the weekend. While vacationing together Ben and Andie form a genuine bond. Andie and Ben go to the company ball together where Phillip meets Andie and tells Ben that he “met her, she loves you, you win.”

To sabotage Ben, Judy and Judy tell Tony and Thayer that Andie knew about the bet all along and was playing along to help Ben win. Tony and Thayer beg Andie to keep quiet, unwittingly making her aware of the bet. Simultaneously, Andie’s boss Lana, who is unaware of Ben’s role, tells him about Andie’s “How To” article. Upon learning of Ben’s bet, Andie attempts to humiliate Ben in front of everyone at the party, and the pair argue on stage before breaking up.

Tony shows Ben Andie’s article. She explains in it how she “lost the only guy I’ve ever fallen for”. When he hears she quit her job at Composure (since Lana again refused to let her write about serious topics) and is on her way to Washington, D.C. for an interview, he chases her taxi and stops her. Once he accuses her of running away, they reveal their true feelings for each other. Ben instructs the taxi driver to return Andie’s belongings to her home, and then they kiss.

Cast

• Kate Hudson as Andie Anderson
• Matthew McConaughey as Benjamin Barry
• Kathryn Hahn as Michelle
• Annie Parisse as Jeannie
• Adam Goldberg as Tony
• Thomas Lennon as Thayer
• Michael Michele as Judy Spears
• Shalom Harlow as Judy Green
• Robert Klein as Phillip Warren
• Bebe Neuwirth as Lana Jang
• Liliane Montevecchi as Mrs. DeLauer
• Marvin Hamlisch as Himself (cameo)

Production

Gwyneth Paltrow and director Mike Newell were originally attached to the project but producer Lynda Obst was unable to get Newell to commit to a date and Paltrow went on to work on the film View from the Top.

The yellow gown Kate Hudson wore in the movie was created by Carolina Herrera along with the film’s costume designer. The necklace she wears with the yellow gown is called, in the film, the “Isadora Diamond” named after Isadora Duncan. The 80-carat yellow diamond in the necklace was designed by Harry Winston and is worth $6 million.

The apartment interiors were conceived by Yeadon born sculptor Zoë Waterman, who said she thought the characters should live in “spaces which I consider to be dream spaces. That is to say their apartments are as close as I’ve seen on screen to my dream apartment. I just said to myself ‘where would I absolutely love to live in my wildest dreams?’, and the whole design came together in about fifteen minutes.”

Release

Critical response

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days received mixed reviews from critics. Metacritic gave the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 42%, based on 150 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site’s critical consensus reads: “Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson are charming together, but they can’t overcome How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days‘ silly premise and predictable script.”

Box office

The film was released on February 7, 2003, and earned $23,774,850 in its first weekend. Its final gross is $105,813,373 in the United States and $71,558,068 internationally.

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