Guess this song isn’t about you
This is one for Unsolved Mysteries.
The Blogiverse went crazy yesterday afternoon with word that Carly Simon had come forward to announce who the song “Your So Vain” was in reference to. For years it was rumoured to be about Warren Beatty, while other names that kept popping up as possible contenders included James Taylor, Mick Jagger and Cat Stevens.
The Sun in the UK, known for their journalistic integrity, said it was David Geffen (umm… helloooooo?? Gay????) she was singing about. Simon has re-recorded the track for a new acoustic album and supposedly if you play the record backward (oh for God’s sweet sake) you can hear her whisper the name “David”.
Riiiiiiiight. Playing stuff backwards guarantees you that you’ll hear whatever you want if you listen hard enough. Cue the countdown to the “Carly Simon is a Satanist” rumours to start up next.
The reasoning behind the Sun’s take on all this was that Geffen was promoting Joni Mitchell (Simon’s rival at the time) over her at their record company.
Of course the rumour went viral with the story being picked up all over until David Friedman of the blog ShowBiz411 pointed out that in ’72, Geffen was in charge of Asylum Records, not Elektra. Apparently, fact checking is not a big pre-requisted before running with a story at The Sun.
Carly Simon’s spokesminion told CNN that “The man’s first name is indeed David, but it could be one of many David’s“.
Somewhere out there, Carly Simon is laughing at all the attention this is (still) getting 38 years after the fact.
