I never understood why it was so vain of whomever to think the song was about him. It was about him after all, wasn’t it?
It was a rare pre-Alanis Morissette use of irony in popular music.
IIRC, the classic explanation is that she’d seen one guy wearing an apricot scarf check himself out in the mirror upon walking into a party like he was walking onto a yacht – and that some other guy had once bedded her with that “we’d make such a pretty pair” line before casually breaking things off – and that she once listened to a vapid conversation from yet another guy who hangs out with the wife of a close friend and recently pocketed some winnings before dashing off to see a total eclipse – such that, whoever you are, most of the time she’s singing about someone else.
I think whomever came up with that is over-analyzing what is basically a joke. That lyric is akin to Yogi Berra saying, “no one eats at that place anymore, it’s too crowded.”
Problem is, Carly Simon is the one who uses the word “composite” when fielding questions about who the song is about.
Yes, the inspiration for the character in the song is drawn from several individuals, but the character is supposed to be one person, or at least that seems to me the simplest interpretation.
I think of it as a joke similar to “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you”. The mystery man could be so vain that he thinks all his ex-girlfriend’s songs were written with him in mind. This time he’s right, but that doesn’t make him any less vain.
We could even imagine that the songwriter had heard that the mystery man was claiming to be the inspiration for a love song she’d written about someone else. She decided that a fitting punishment for his arrogance would be to write a song that actually was about him, and that revealed what she really thought of him.
ETA: I’m not claiming that the last paragraph actually explains Carly Simon’s motives, just that it’s one way to interpret the song – the (fictionalized) narrator wrote the song to get back at a vain ex who liked to claim a sort of credit for her success.
apricot scarf, eh?
i always thought it was: " apres cot ". ( don’t s got no idea how to put the accent in * sigh * ).
Please, for the love of god, someone needs to tell me what #2 is.
Presumably the lost recipe for the cake in MacArthur Park. It doesn’t say how long it’ll take to bake it, though.
Heh. Consider my ignorance fought.
I always (mis)heard the lyric as “wife of a postman.”
Bumped.
Carly Simon says that Warren Beatty was definitely an inspiration for the song - at least the second verse: http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/19/entertainment/carly-simon-warren-beatty-youre-so-vain-feat/index.html
Wow, she’s really good at PR. Who else could get media attention for 40 years by revealing the same “secret” over and over?
Interesting that Jagger is one guess–he sang backup on the song, uncredited.
That should be 2 tbls *green *food coloring.
I thought it was about me 
Can somebody explain #4?
Five years later, I’m vindicated. 
Me too.
Hotel California, I assume.
Wait about a month, and Paul McCartney will reveal that Yoko didn’t really break up the Beatles, and that they are, actually, good friends.