An Obvious Question About The Song 'You're So Vain'

[gigi]

@AncientHumanoid

It’s a metapun.

I haven’t got time for the pun.

[CairoCarol]

@Sunny_Daze

You had me for a minute. It’s clouds. I think I used to hear clowns too. Made as much sense as anything else though. Not sure clouds is any better really.

I always assumed that the occasional slow teardrop rolled into the coffee cup (at least in her dream) and caused a cloudy spot.

[Lemur866]

@GIGObuster

I think she was referring to an even more ephemeral item than that.

You're So Vain - Wikipedia
So it was more than just a vanishing thing, it was referring to something that was just a reflexion, less tangible than a dream.

So she looked at clouds from both sides now?

[cochrane]

@Lemur866

So she looked at clouds from both sides now?

That was Judy Collins. Or Joni Mitchell. Take your pick.

[Dale_Sams]

@The_Other_Waldo_Pepper

IIRC, isn’t her explanation that it’s a composite? So as soon as the guy who heard that bit concluded that it’s about him, he would’ve scratched his head and tried in vain to recall the time he used that ‘such a pretty pair’ line on her – and the guy who did recall using that line on her, he’d already (a) concluded that it was him, and (b) struggled to recall when he’d worn an apricot scarf to a party.

(And the guy who rocked that scarf – yeah, he’d already concluded it was him, and then said to himself hang on; when did I say “pretty pair” to her?)

I thought she finally came out and told us what we all knew already, that it was Warren Beatty.

[cochrane]

@Dale_Sams

I thought she finally came out and told us what we all knew already, that it was Warren Beatty.

She revealed that the second verse was about Beatty, but the song is not exclusively about him. It also refers to two other men.

In November 2015, Simon, promoting her about-to-be-published memoir, said, “I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren (Beatty),” and added that while “Warren thinks the whole thing is about him,” he is the subject of that verse only, with the remainder of the song referring to two other, still-unnamed men.

You're So Vain

[Dale_Sams]

@cochrane

She revealed that the second verse was about Beatty, but the song is not exclusively about him. It also refers to two other men.

You're So Vain - Wikipedia

Well that’s some Mandela-Effect level shit there!

[DesertDog]

@The_Other_Waldo_Pepper

IIRC, isn’t her explanation that it’s a composite? So as soon as the guy who heard that bit concluded that it’s about him, he would’ve scratched his head and tried in vain to recall the time he used that ‘such a pretty pair’ line on her – and the guy who did recall using that line on her, he’d already (a) concluded that it was him, and (b) struggled to recall when he’d worn an apricot scarf to a party.

(And the guy who rocked that scarf – yeah, he’d already concluded it was him, and then said to himself hang on; when did I say “pretty pair” to her?)

This, boys and girls, is why you should never date a song writer. When you inevitably break up you’re going to find yourself in a song, angry, bitter, or sad, depending on how the break up went.

Same for poets but nobody reads them.

[Fenris]

What does it say about her that she kept either dating or hanging out with this kind of guy?

[Spit]

@GIGObuster

I think she was referring to an even more ephemeral item than that.

You're So Vain - Wikipedia
So it was more than just a vanishing thing, it was referring to something that was just a reflexion, less tangible than a dream.

Good Lord- I thought it meant when you pour in the cream and it makes clouds for a second until you stir. The feelings were there for a moment, then disappeared.

@cochrane

She revealed that the second verse was about Beatty, but the song is not exclusively about him. It also refers to two other men.

You're So Vain - Wikipedia

On one of her later albums, she whispered the word “David” backwards, supposedly as a clue.

I think it is a composite. The three verses being three different men makes the chorus sensible, since the song is not about any one of them.

[Cartoonacy]

[QUOTE=The Brain]
Hurry, Pinky! If we don’t get to Carly Simon’s house by six, we’ll never know if that song was about me!
[/QUOTE]

link

[Spit]

@cochrane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6UAYGxiRwU&app=desktop

I hear it quite clearly. I’ve always heard it that way.

I heard it the grocery store tonight, and I believe she says “Up to Saratoga, where your horse naturally won”. I did not here an “Up” before Nova Scotia being mentioned.

[cochrane]

@Spit

I heard it the grocery store tonight, and I believe she says “Up to Saratoga, where your horse naturally won”. I did not here an “Up” before Nova Scotia being mentioned.

You can hear it much better in the YouTube clip than you can over grocery store speakers. Anyway, it fits the meter better with the word “up” than without it.

[pulykamell]

@cochrane

You can hear it much better in the YouTube clip than you can over grocery store speakers. Anyway, it fits the meter better with the word “up” than without it.

Your link seems to be down, but in this one I definitely hear both “ups,” as well as in the live version I was able to find. It sounds pretty clear to me.

[Spit]

I’m in the sticks, with major bandwidth restrictions. I will kick on the 70’s station, and report back in twenty minutes.

[MacCat]

As a young kid in the late 50’s, I often listened to my father’s My Fair Lady record album of the Broadway show (Julie Andrews), and remember well the song Ascot Gavotte. Here’s the scene from the 1964 movie (Audrey Hepburn lip synching Marni Nixon) which I always visualized when I heard the lyric in You’re So Vain.

I wouldn’t be surprised, her being from a wealthy, cultured NYC family, if Ms. Simon actually saw it on Broadway, which must have been wonderful.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

You misspelled “loverly”.