Carly Simon (b. 1945)

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Biography

Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 top 40 U.S. hits include "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" (No. 10), "Anticipation" (No. 13), "The Right Thing to Do" (No. 17), "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" (No. 14), "You Belong to Me" (No. 6), "Coming Around Again" (No. 18), and her four Gold-certified singles "You're So Vain" (No. 1), "Mockingbird", "Nobody Does It Better" (No. 2) from the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, and "Jesse" (No. 11). She has authored two memoirs and five children's books.

Timeline

The story of Carly Simon, told in moments.

1971 Event

Released her self-titled debut album and won the Grammy for Best New Artist. Her single "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" reached the top ten.

Did the Grammy for Best New Artist feel like the real beginning? Was 'That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be' autobiographical?

1972 Event

"You're So Vain" hit No. 1. The subject of the song became pop music's longest-running mystery. Mick Jagger sang backup but denied being the target.

Will you ever reveal all the verses of 'You're So Vain'? Did the mystery help or overshadow the song?

1972 Life

Married singer James Taylor. They recorded the duet "Mockingbird" together. The marriage lasted until 1983.

Was marrying James Taylor about love or music? Did 'Mockingbird' together feel natural?

2015 Event

Revealed in her memoir Boys in the Trees that the second verse of "You're So Vain" was about Warren Beatty. She kept the identity behind the other verses secret.

Was revealing Warren Beatty as one verse's subject a relief or a strategy? Is keeping the other verses secret power or a game?

In Their Own Words (8)

I pretended I was Cat Stevens. I started out with very Cat Stevensy chords, very abrupt. I was so stuck in the moment of being fearful so as a lesson to myself I said: ‘but we can never know about the days to come’. I didn’t know when the door-bell was going to ring. I liked that. It was all of a sudden a quarter to eight and I had written the whole song.

On her song “Anticipation” in “Carly Simon explains ‘Anticipation’ was about Cat Stevens” in Music-News.com (31 Oct 2016), 2016

Music brought me closer to the idea of God…Music gave me the energy to revise, revive myself; renew, rebirth myself. It was a palliative, a relief.

On what Simon wrote regarding music in Boys in the Trees (as stated in “Tales From the Trees: An Interview With Carly Simon” in PopMatters; 2016 Nov 20), 2016

Fear came in so much in my life that it did everything but completely stop me. When I was a little girl, I so wanted to be sociable, but I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to speak a sentence because I had such a bad stammer...

On what Simon’s childhood in “Tales From the Trees: An Interview With Carly Simon” in PopMatters (2016 Nov 20), 2016

The time I enjoy music most is when it’s not a performance. It’s just trading instrumentals and finding that part in the song that you feel best singing.

On how much she loves performing music with her family in “Carly Simon on Trolling Trump With ‘You’re So Vain,’ Lost Mick Jagger Duet” in Rolling Stone (29 Nov 2016), 2016

I grew up with lots of mystery in my house…I was always feeling on shaky ground when I was growing up. I didn’t know what was what, and that led me to feel very insecure.

On the family secrets that were kept from Simon during her childhood in “A revealing interview with Carly Simon at her home in Martha’s Vineyard about her new book, ‘Boys in the Trees’” (2015 Nov 24), 2015