# Carly Simon "You're So Vain......" Who was she referring to ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962 "2003-08-22T16:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/1 "2003-08-22T16:58:58Z")
Today at work the topic came up about who Carly Simon was referring to in the song “You’re so vain” I know there has been a lot of speculation through the years and that in a relatively recent interview she said it was a couple people combined but a co-worker said she revealed it to be one person. He couldn’t remember where he heard it, naturally:rolleyes: Can anyone help? Thanks! I will lose sleep over this. ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_Pittiful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Brad\_Pittiful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_Pittiful)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/2 "2003-08-22T17:27:48Z")
i think it was Warren Beatty at the very beginning of the song…very low…she says “you son of a gun” so she pissed id say ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/3 "2003-08-22T17:28:09Z")
She has always said that it was a bunch of different people. Warren Beatty was the one I always heard. Several people thought it might be Mick Jagger (made more interesting by the fact that he sings back up on the song). Recently, she decided to auction off the name of the person. For charity, I believe. The winner of the auction had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Someone fairly famous won the auction, but I can’t remember the name. It strikes me as fairly convenient that she is now saying it really is about one person. We may never know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![wakimika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@wakimika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wakimika)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/4 "2003-08-22T17:29:26Z")
If you must have the answer, you’ll need to get **Dick Ebersol** really, really drunk. He “won” the right to know who the song is about in a charity auction. However, he also signed an agreement to never divulge the secret. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/5 "2003-08-22T17:46:16Z")
I believe it was some TV exec that paid the 50K to find out. I’d pay 50K to find out who killed Kennedy but not who dumped Carly and pissed her off. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/6 "2003-08-22T17:54:33Z")
Wasn’t there a thread on this subject very recently? ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/7 "2003-08-22T18:02:35Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=202466](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=202466) ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/8 "2003-08-22T18:06:57Z")
…and **lieu** even contributed to it, as did I (but, at least, **I** remembered it vaguely:D) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/9 "2003-08-22T18:27:59Z")
sorry, didn’t know about the thread,., i’ve onl been here since june and am still trying to learn the ropes…a good time to ask you…how come when i try to search for a thread, it always tells me that i don’t have enough words to search. even when i type in exactly what a thread title contains (did it as a test) ??? ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/10 "2003-08-22T19:42:13Z")
I’m still amazed that I could find the thread:D. Perhaps you should direct your query to the ATMB forum, assuming no one else can answer you here. Welcome aboard, by the way! ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_Pittiful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Brad\_Pittiful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_Pittiful)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/11 "2003-08-22T19:52:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*I believe it was some TV exec that paid the 50K to find out. I’d pay 50K to find out who killed Kennedy but not who dumped Carly and pissed her off. \*\* the mob killed JFK…woo hoo 50k coming my way ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/12 "2003-08-22T21:24:34Z")
I had always heard Warren Beatty, and most people i know seem to be of the same belief on the matter. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/13 "2003-08-23T03:07:06Z")
CURIOUS\_GEORGIE7 writes: \> how come when i try to search for a thread, it always tells me \> that i don’t have enough words to search. I just did a search on the words “Carly”, “Simon”, and “vain” (with no time limit and on all forums), and I got 25 threads. Try that yourself. That set of threads is probably everything relevant. ---
**Author:** ![acrossthesea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@acrossthesea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acrossthesea)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/14 "2003-08-23T03:51:16Z")
Weird, this Warren Beatty thing, I’d never heard that before. When I was little my mother used to play that song a lot and told me it was about James Taylor! ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/15 "2003-08-23T03:54:50Z")
So Warren Beatty killed JFK!?! Whoda thunk it? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/16 "2003-08-23T05:56:07Z")
> [@](#): > > the mob killed JFK…woo hoo 50k coming my way 😛 [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204992](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204992) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/17 "2003-08-26T12:41:31Z")
Hmmmm… I can buy the Warren Beatty thing…self absorbed bastard that he is. But James Taylor? I thought he was too busy wallowing in self-pity to be vain. OMNI NOT WROTE: Welcome aboard, by the way! Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/18 "2003-08-26T17:48:29Z")
Maybe Beatty will squeal like a pig for us. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carly-simon-youre-so-vain-who-was-she-referring-to/196962/19 "2003-08-26T19:32:10Z")
ummmm Lieu…that was Ned Beatty…Ned’s the one that had to squeal…