You're So Vain - Subject of The Song

Subject of The Song

Before the song became a hit single in 1972 she told an interviewer that the song was about "men," not a specific "man."

In 1983, she told the Washington Post that it is not about Mick Jagger, who contributed uncredited backing vocals to the song. However, in a 1993 book Backstage Passes, Angela Bowie claimed to be the "wife of a close friend" mentioned in "You're So Vain," and that Jagger, for a time, had been "obsessed" with her. Simon made another comment about the subject's identity as a guest artist on Janet Jackson's 2001 single, "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)," which sampled "You're So Vain." About the song, Simon said, "The apricot scarf was worn by Nick (Nick Nolte). Nothing in the words were referred to Mick."

In a 1989 interview, Simon acknowledged that the song is a little bit about Warren Beatty but said the subject of the song is a composite of three men from her L.A. days. In a 2007 interview, Beatty said, "Let's be honest. That song was about me." Simon has said that Beatty had called and thanked her for the song.

Over the years, Simon has divulged "letter clues", and has claimed that the subject's name contains the letters A, E, and R.

Shortly before the writing of the song, Simon was married to James Taylor; she has said that he was "definitely not" the subject of the song. David Bowie, David Cassidy and Cat Stevens have all been cited by the press as speculative candidates. In 2005, Simon's ex-husband Jim Hart said he was sure that the song was not about anyone famous.

In August 2003, Simon agreed to reveal the name of the song's subject to the highest bidder of the Martha's Vineyard Possible Dreams charity auction. With the top bid of $50,000, Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports and a friend of Simon, won the right to know the name of the person "You're So Vain" was written about. Ebersol was given a private performance of the song at Simon's home and Simon whispered the name into his ear. A condition of the prize was that Ebersol would not reveal the person to anyone. Ebersol said that Simon allowed him to divulge a clue about the person's name: "Carly told me that I could offer up to the entire world, a clue as to what she'll tell me when we have this night in about two weeks. And the clue is: The letter 'E' is in the person's name." Although Simon, at times, had suggested that the subject of the song was a composite of several people, the clue she allowed Ebersol to reveal was a letter in the person's name, implying the subject is one person.

In 2004, Simon told Regis Philbin, "If I tell it, it's going to come out in dribs and drabs. And I've given out two letters already, an 'A' and an 'E.' But I'm going to add one to it. I'm going to add an 'R,' in honor of you."

Several days after the identity of Watergate-era press source Deep Throat was revealed during the summer of 2005, Simon joked to USA Today that the song was about Mark Felt, who revealed himself as the legendary Watergate source.

On November 4, 2009, while being interviewed on WNYC's Soundcheck, Simon revealed that she had hidden the name of the subject in a certain version of the song. The next day, the program's crew revealed the name concealed in a back-played whisper: David. However, Simon has denied that the whisper was David, saying she has spoken "Ovid" both forwards and backwards, and that sounded like David.

On June 19, 2008, Howard Stern claimed Simon privately revealed whom the song was written about to him after her interview on his popular radio show heard on Sirius Satellite Radio. Stern commented, "There is an odd aspect to it ... he's not that vain." On March 17, 2009 on his Sirius Satellite Radio program, Stern, recalling that Simon had told him whom the song was written about, claimed that Simon said it was a "composite of three people".

In her 2008 book, Girls like us : Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon - and the Journey of a Generation, author Sheila Weller covered the lives and careers of the three famous singers. Weller's detailed account of Simon's love affair with guitarist and luthier, Dan Armstrong, provides overwhelming evidence that he was in fact the inspiration for her classic hit, You're So Vain. She dated Armstrong for about two years, ending right around the time the song was released. Although Simon would move on to date and have affairs with other men, she claims to have unrequited love for him and sought him and tried to reconnect with him at different points and places over the years. Other factors supporting Armstrong as the subject of You're So Vain, was his personality. Armstrong, who was a gifted musician and guitar maker, wasn't modest about his skills at both. In interviews, he bragged that he was the first and only electric guitar specialist in the world. Further proof is that his full name, Daniel Armstrong, contains the three letters, A, E and R, that Carly Simon said were in the name of the subject of her song. Likewise Carly's husband, Jim Hart, has been quoted as saying that the subject of the song wasn't someone famous. Compared to the other men thought to be the subject of the song, Daniel Armstrong probably wouldn't be considered "famous."

In February 2010, Simon told Uncut that the name of the subject was whispered backwards in a re-recording of "You're So Vain": "There's a little whisper -- and it's the answer to the puzzle." A representative for Simon confirmed that the name whispered during the song is "David". Multiple media outlets quickly reported that the subject was actually Simon's former boss at Elektra, David Geffen, and that the song had been inspired by her jealousy of the attention Geffen had lavished on label-mate Joni Mitchell. The following day, Jim Hart, Simon's ex-husband and close friend, denied that the song was about Geffen. Simon's publicist confirmed that the song was not about Geffen, but that there was indeed "a David who is connected to the song in some way, shape, or form," and Simon noted that when she first wrote the song in 1971, she hadn't even met David Geffen yet. Vanity Fair noted that in addition to "David", "Warren" and an unintelligible name are whispered during the recording, revealing it was at least partially influenced by him all along.