You probably think this song is about you. DON'T YOU? DON'T YOU?? DON'T YOU???

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Overheard a comment in a pub:

"I love this song, because she's saying the song isn't about him, when it TOTALLY IS about him!!"

I wanted to respond "Bollocks! It's about her in the context of her relationship with him." But I didn't because I don't even know the guy and he was getting big ups for the him-ness. Viz had a letter this month saying the same thing couched in the usual 'Wasn't Carly Simon a silly bitch?' trope that they go for in letters that criticise Carly Simon's 'about-you'-osity.

Anyway, it's obviously a thorny issue. So I'll ask the ultimate judgement of ILM - is 'You're So Vain' about HER - or about HIM?

― Vic Fluro, Saturday, 26 June 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

uh possibly both?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 26 June 2004 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

It's about Warren Beatty.

Lock thread.

― ..., Saturday, 26 June 2004 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Dave Coulier?

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Saturday, 26 June 2004 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

was this about helicopter tune, by deep blue? if so, i think you are reading a little too much into it (how cool would a Nookie remix of this have been though!)

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 26 June 2004 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I was asking about YOUR opinion, Mr ..., because I think where you stand on the issue of whether it's a song about the 'him' - Beatty or otherwise - or the 'her' - the narrator, Carly Simon or otherwise - says interesting things about you, the listener.

So no lock thread.

― Vic Fluro, Saturday, 26 June 2004 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)

is the matthew mcconaughey and kate hudson remix best?

― keith m (keithmcl), Saturday, 26 June 2004 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

The only memorable lyric (also the titular lyric) is about him... so what did she want us to think

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Saturday, 26 June 2004 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

"I was asking about YOUR opinion, Mr ..., because I think where you stand on the issue of whether it's a song about the 'him' - Beatty or otherwise - or the 'her' - the narrator, Carly Simon or otherwise - says interesting things about you, the listener."

It's about Warren Beatty.

― ..., Saturday, 26 June 2004 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

It's about him: she's making FUN of him, obviously, whoever "he" might be.

― Bimble (bimble), Sunday, 27 June 2004 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

If the song is about her, then the chorus isn't clever anymore... so then what's the point?

― wetmink (wetmink), Sunday, 27 June 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i thought the song was supposed to be about mick jagger. but wasn't this whole issue officially resolved by carly simon ie. a public statement was made stating the exact person, whomever that was. so: look it up if you really care, i guess :)

― Gilles Meloche (Gilles Meloche), Sunday, 27 June 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

It would be sightly ironic if the song were about Mick, as he sang backup.

― jim wentworth (wench), Sunday, 27 June 2004 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)

It's about me.

― David Allen (David Allen), Sunday, 27 June 2004 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait, are you the Daevid Allen from Gong and Soft Machine? Was Carly Simon in the Canterbury scene?

― wetmink (wetmink), Monday, 28 June 2004 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Carly Simon has never explicitly stated who the song is about. Except to one individual who paid a large sum of money to discover the secret and, to the best of my knowledge, has kept his mouth shut.

― ng, Monday, 28 June 2004 01:23 (twenty-one years ago)

i think that guy won a contesest or something if i remember correctly

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 28 June 2004 01:26 (twenty-one years ago)

That's also the way I understand it. Imagine being the only person, outside of her small circle of friends, to know the true meaning of it all. And you can't tell a soul. Great prize.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 28 June 2004 01:31 (twenty-one years ago)

If the song is about her, then the chorus isn't clever anymore... so then what's the point?

I think the chorus is much cleverer if the songs about her, or rather, "them." ie when I say you and i, you only hear you => you are vain

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Monday, 28 June 2004 02:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I think there's built-in ambiguity. But "and all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner" points to Him possibly.

― beanz (beanz), Monday, 28 June 2004 02:27 (twenty-one years ago)

It would be sightly ironic if the song were about Mick, as he sang backup.

and he's so goddamned loud in the mix that it sounds like carly's the one singing backup.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 28 June 2004 02:45 (twenty-one years ago)

This song is clearly about Vic Fluro.

― Krankenhaus, Monday, 28 June 2004 02:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the chorus is much cleverer if the songs about her, or rather, "them." ie when I say you and i, you only hear you => you are vain

I always assumed. without knowing many of the lyrics, that it was clever because it was about "him" (or even about her and "him") but she didn't specify or name who "he" was. So the unnamed guy out there hears this song and, because he's so vain, assumes it's about him even though, presumably, the narrator's had lots of other boyfriends the song could be about. She's not saying that the song's not about him. She's saying that he's vain enough to assume everything revolves around him without knowing for sure.

But now that I looked up the lyrics, that does seem to make a little less sense given all the details in the last verse. Vic's and Sonny's ideas actually make sense. They're more subtle than what I came up with as a kid. This mystery fascinates me.

Carly Simon YOU'RE SO VAIN lyrics
(Carly Simon)

You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye on the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and...

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't You?

You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive
Well you said that we made such a pretty pair
And that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved and one of them was me
I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and...

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't You?

I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and...

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't You?

Well I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won
Then you flew your lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
Wife of a close friend, and...

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't You? (until fade)

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 28 June 2004 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yeah, also, what does she mean about dreams being clouds in her coffee? Is that a common expression?

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 28 June 2004 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think so. That's pretty bizarre poetry. Dreams are kind of cloudlike, but why in the COFFEE?

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 28 June 2004 05:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Is she drinking coffee outdoors and the clouds are reflecting into her coffee or Warren Beatty's shadow? Or did her cream suddenly curdle at the sight of Mick Jagger?

― Sara Sherr, Monday, 28 June 2004 05:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I always interpreted it as her pouring milk or cream in coffee and thinking about it looking like clouds and how her dreams were like the clouds in the coffee.

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 28 June 2004 05:37 (twenty-one years ago)

cocaine's a helluva drug

― autovac (autovac), Monday, 28 June 2004 07:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, exactly. Her. God is this debate still raging?

Wasn't she going to tell all to the highest bidder in a charity auction, in strictest confidence?

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 28 June 2004 10:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Sundarr's original post about it being 'someone else but boyfriend 1' was how I originally thought it. But I changed my mind.

Also, I see someone else mentioned the competition/auction thingy. So, I dunno there.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 28 June 2004 10:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The guy who won the auction to be told who this song is about from Carly?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/events/1996/olympics/storyolympic/images/nbc.jpg

DICK EBERSOL !!!

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i always thought it was "grounds in my coffee," which is still a stretch poetically, i guess, but having grounds in my coffee is something i can understand.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it a big diss to tell someone they should live in Nova Scotia all the time? Poor Nova Scotia.

― Symplistic (shmuel), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Besides, the song is clearly about Jesus.

― Symplistic (shmuel), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.