# Seeing Yourself in a Song -or- I'm so vain I almost think that song is about me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640 "2018-05-22T23:16:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/1 "2018-05-22T23:16:40Z")
When Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” came out every guy, and I’m sure some women, who had ever been in the same room as her claimed it was about him. I never shared the same air as her nor is the jerk in question self-absorbed the same way I am, so I’m reasonably sure it’s not about me. When Linda Ronstadt released [“Long, Long Time”](https://youtu.be/GKAtM9xS-fA) (AKA [“The American Suicide Song”](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloomy_Sunday)) in 1970 I was 16 and mopish about girls, prone to instant infatuations but too shy to do anything about them. I thought that song reflected how I felt about my unrequitable loves, which changed every time the class bell rang. (I never said I was deep.) Listening to it today I find that I no longer relate to Linda, but see myself as the guy she’s singing about. I think about a couple of women whom I know loved me much more than I loved them, and it makes me sad in a different way, imagining how they–we–might’ve been happier if I were as in love with one of them as she was with me. So, is there a song that describes you, and in your head were you the singer or the sung about? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/2 "2018-05-22T23:19:17Z")
“Sick of You” by Gwar ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/3 "2018-05-22T23:27:18Z")
Are you the singer or the sung about? Because I can see it both ways. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/4 "2018-05-22T23:37:20Z")
Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile, covered so eloquently by SRV, that song is about me. I’m the Voodoo Chile. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/5 "2018-05-23T00:04:06Z")
I used to have so many songs like that that, at one point in my adolescence, I made a mix tape of them. Nowadays? Not so much. At the moment, the only one I can remember is “Maybe This Time” from _Cabaret._ I strongly identified with Sally Bowles for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/6 "2018-05-23T00:05:16Z")
I appear as minor characters in Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row.” I am one of the sailors who are filling up the beauty parlor. In a later verse I am one of the persons “expecting rain.” And I am among the members of the Riot Squad. I am dead certain about this. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/7 "2018-05-23T00:15:54Z")
What color is your passport? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/8 "2018-05-23T00:20:06Z")
Weird Al, White and Nerdy. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/9 "2018-05-23T00:24:10Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Are you the singer or the sung about? Because I can see it both ways. 😉 I also saw it as both. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/10 "2018-05-23T00:27:27Z")
Until I got married to the most wonderful woman in the world, I had Jackson Brown’s “The Pretender” as my theme song. _I’m gonna be a happy idiot And struggle for the legal tender Where the ads take aim and lay their claim To the heart and the soul of the spender And believe in whatever may lie In those things that money can buy Though true love could have been a contender Are you there? Say a prayer for the Pretender. Who started out so young and strong Only to surrender._ I’m much better now. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/11 "2018-05-23T00:28:16Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > What color is your passport? Well, it was dark blue, before it got painted. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/12 "2018-05-23T01:44:36Z")
I always thought Kris Kristofferson was singing ‘Help me make it through the night’ to me (please)😉 ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/13 "2018-05-23T02:08:46Z")
“Solitary Shell”, Dream Theater ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/14 "2018-05-23T05:15:27Z")
Rollin’ With the Flow. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hzrhCotSjQg/hqdefault.jpg "Rollin' With The Flow (Charlie Rich) w/ lyrics") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzrhCotSjQg) ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/15 "2018-05-23T05:50:21Z")
This one’s easy. _[Soul Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYh-LwbUwoQ)_ by Sam and Dave. I didn’t really learn how to love before I could eat, but it was close (and boy, did that babysitter get in _trouble_) ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/16 "2018-05-23T05:55:50Z")
Yeah. [Eyeball Kid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXXmn0NS40) by Tom Waits. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/17 "2018-05-23T12:25:54Z")
“Watching the Wheels” by John Lennon. I never did get motivated, but I’m not quite as complacent about it as I used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/18 "2018-05-23T13:30:56Z")
Carry On by Styx. I want that song to be played at my funeral. Desperado by the Eagles. Particularly the reprise. > [@](#): > > The queen of diamonds let you down > She was just an empty fable > The queen of hearts you say you never met > Your twisted fate has found you out > And it’s fin’lly turned the tables > Stole your dreams and paid you with regret > Desperado > (Is there gonna be anything left, is there gonna be anything?) > You sealed your fate up a long time ago > (Ain’t it hard when you’re all alone in the center ring?) > Now there’s no time left to borrow > (Is there gonna be anything left?) > Only stardust > (Maybe tomorrow) > Maybe tomorrow > Maybe tomorrow ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/19 "2018-05-23T13:41:35Z")
Shit! I meant Come Sail Away by Styx. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/20 "2018-05-23T13:55:42Z")
**You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away** by John Lennon / The Beatles. Singing that song as a teenager - man, I fully _inhabited_ those lyrics. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640.md?page=2)