# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/21 "2018-05-23T14:32:16Z")
The verses about the singer’s mother and father in “Alone Again, Naturally” match those of my parents pretty closely. OTOH, I was never stood up at the altar, nor contemplated jumping off a building. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/22 "2018-05-23T14:32:42Z")
I’m at the end of a teaching year and it has been a tough one. My 15th. I put on Aimee Mann the other day and these lyrics came out: > [@](#): > > What was started out > With such excitement > Now I gladly end with relief > In what now has become a familiar motif > > That nothing is good enough > For people like you > Who have to have someone take the fall > And something to sabotage > Determined to lose it all > > Critics at their worst > Could never criticize > The way that you do > No, there’s no one else I find > To undermine or dash a hope > Quite like you > And you do it so casually, too Not the kids, mind you. Parents and admin. sometimes make me feel this way. Summer will recharge me. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/23 "2018-05-23T15:09:55Z")
I am a rock, I am an island… and a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/24 "2018-05-23T15:13:09Z")
I’ve always identified with the song [Mary Jo](https://genius.com/Belle-and-sebastian-mary-jo-lyrics) by Belle & Sebastian. It’s lovely but melancholy. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/25 "2018-05-23T16:57:49Z")
Dunno, but I know the girl in the music video “Rio” is winking at me. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/26 "2018-05-23T17:18:33Z")
Jet City Woman by Queensryche. (For all of you who thought my screen name was an abbreviation for Jesus Christ, lol) I’ve also always associated the song Desperado by the Eagles with my dad. He lives a very lonely, isolated life by choice (but I think it’s undiagnosed manic/depressive illness). He’s never really been a happy man. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/27 "2018-05-23T19:03:52Z")
There are plenty of break up songs that seemed to apply to me at the time. [“Already Gone” by the Eagles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoGweOFqapU) was a memorable one. ---
**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, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/28 "2018-05-23T20:41:31Z")
‘Stars’ by Grace Potter. It certainly describes my losses. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/29 "2018-05-23T21:07:12Z")
Edie Brickelle, “What I Am.” Oh my god, I think we are soulmates. I also kinda related to “Misunderstood” by Ronnie Lane & Pete Townshend. Or “Misunderstood” by anybody really (Animals, Lil Wayne) ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/30 "2018-05-24T00:13:09Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > There are plenty of break up songs that seemed to apply to me at the time. > > [“Already Gone” by the Eagles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoGweOFqapU) was a memorable one. After a particularly bad breakup some years back, the ones I listened to over and over were Love Has No Pride by Bonnie Raitt, and Most Of The Time, by Dylan. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/31 "2018-05-24T01:41:42Z")
I always wanted a man made of Hercules and Cyrano. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/32 "2018-05-24T22:55:48Z")
OK, this one’s easy, it’s definitely the Kinks’ [_Too Much On My Mind_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOSe53DzLP4). This has been a constant problem for me my whole life. I think by now I have learned to live with it, but at the time I heard the song for the first time, when I was about the same age as Ray Davies when he wrote it, I instantly thought: “That’s me”. And it still is. ---
**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 25, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/33 "2018-05-25T00:13:52Z")
Good answer, **Al’s Dog**! I hate to be the only one opening a vein in this thread. I mean, I hoped others would come clean and turn the thread into a confessional. We’re all [del]friends[/del] strangers with nobody in common IRL. It’s a safe-ish place. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/34 "2018-05-25T00:17:33Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Carry On by Styx. I want that song to be played at my funeral. > > Desperado by the Eagles. Particularly the reprise. That’s not the Desperado I know. I thought Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles did the same: “Don’t you try the Queen of Diamonds, boy, She’ll beat you if she’s able, The Queen of Hearts is always your best bet. Well,it seems to me some fine things Have been laid upon your table, But you only want the things that you can’t get, Desperado… I love that song, and I never heard the lyrics you have, different songs? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/35 "2018-05-25T00:51:29Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Good answer, **Al’s Dog**! I hate to be the only one opening a vein in this thread. I mean, I hoped others would come clean and turn the thread into a confessional. We’re all [del]friends[/del] strangers with nobody in common IRL. It’s a safe-ish place. Oh well, I think having too much on one’s mind is no great confessional around here, but rather a requirement :D. ---
**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 25, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/36 "2018-05-25T13:40:47Z")
> [@Patx2](#): > > That’s not the Desperado I know. I thought Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles did the same: > > “Don’t you try the Queen of Diamonds, boy, > She’ll beat you if she’s able, > The Queen of Hearts is always your best bet. > Well,it seems to me some fine things > Have been laid upon your table, > But you only want the things that you can’t get, > Desperado… > > I love that song, and I never heard the lyrics you have, different songs? The last song on Eagles’ Desperado album is Dueling Dalton/Desperado (reprise), which I quoted. [Click here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkap9oUvUvk). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/37 "2018-05-25T15:09:36Z")
'80s hit [Nowhere Girl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcxmJ9Byj9U) by B-Movie. “Nowhere girl you’re living in a dream, Nowhere girl you stay behind the scenes, Nowhere girl you never go outside, Nowhere girl 'cause you prefer to hide.” Perfect soundtrack to the life of a lonely, alienated teen. And now a lonely middle aged woman :o Yikes; sorry to be so gloomy. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/38 "2018-05-25T16:57:14Z")
“Dr. Jimmy” from Quadrophenia by The Who. That song was my anthem in college and still is on really bad days. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/39 "2018-05-26T00:07:56Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The last song on Eagles’ Desperado album is Dueling Dalton/Desperado (reprise), which I quoted. [Click here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkap9oUvUvk). Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-yourself-in-a-song-or-im-so-vain-i-almost-think-that-song-is-about-me/814640/40 "2018-05-26T00:46:37Z")
As I’ve gotten older, Classical Gas has become appropriate. [Previous 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=1) [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=3)