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Carly Simon Reveals A Fourth

[BBC] Carly Simon has performed an extra, fourth verse of You’re So Vain for the first time in a new BBC documentary.

The star plays the lost stanza sitting at her home piano, hesitating as she tries to make the words fit the melody.

“This is a verse that I haven’t ever sung,” she explains. “I wrote it a while ago on a pad, but it never made it into the song.”

But the lyrics do not reveal the subject of the song, whose identity remains one of rock’s biggest riddles.

“A friend of yours revealed to me / That you’d loved me all the time,” sings Simon, who is now 71.

“[You] kept it secret from your wives / You believed it was no crime.”

The lyrics were previously printed in Simon’s 2015 memoir, Boys In The Trees, but she has never before sung the verse.

The clip comes from the latest episode of the BBC’s Classic Albums series, which looks at Simon’s 1972 album No Secrets.

You’re So Vain was the album’s first single and introduced a rockier sound for the singer-songwriter – something she initially resisted.

“I didn’t really like the direction of the record,” she says in the documentary, explaining that she “fought” producer Richard Perry “all the way”, until she first heard You’re So Vain on the radio in a New York taxi cab.

“It sounded so good over the radio and I thought, ‘no matter what the other songs sound like, I don’t mind because this one turned out so well.'”

The song went on to top the US charts and reached number three in the UK. It is a critical portrait of a self-absorbed man who “walked into the party like he was walking onto a yacht”.

Over the years, Simon has refused to say who the song is about; although in 2015 she told People magazine that the second verse referenced actor Warren Beatty.

“It was my [book] publisher who called up and said, ‘People Magazine will put you on the cover if you tell who You’re So Vain is about, or just give one verse up.'” she told the BBC.

“And so I therefore decided to give a little bit away. Now, that doesn’t mean that the other two verses aren’t also about Warren. It just means that the second one is.”

Arlyne Rothberg, Simon’s manager in the 1970s, says “endless numbers of people” had asked her to reveal the secret, but “we never talked about it at all.

“The answer wasn’t as important as the game.”

However, she revealed, “the subject, [the person] who it was about, loved the fact. He couldn’t have been more pleased.”

BG Note: In the People interview, Carly Simon claimed that the other verses refer to two other men (See: Carly Simon Reveals One Of Three ) Here are the song lyrics. We’ll call the new verse the fourth verse. You can watch her perform the fourth verse HERE.

You’re So Vain

FIRST VERSE

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 in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they’d be your partner
They’d be your partner, and…

REFRAIN

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?

warren beatty timeSECOND VERSE

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…

REFRAIN

THIRD VERSE

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…

REFRAIN

FOURTH VERSE

A friend of yours revealed to me
That you’d loved me all the time
[You] kept it secret from your wives
You believed it was no crime.

You called me once to ask me things
I couldn’t quite divine
Maybe that’s why I have tried to dismiss you
Tried to dismiss you

REFRAIN

Similar: Carly Simon Reveals One Of Three

First Verse Guy:

Second Verse Guy: Warren Beatty

Third Verse Guy:

Fourth Verse Guy:

[Optional] The song You’re So Vain came out in 1972 and it is now 2017. That’s 45 years. How many more years is Carly Simon going to stretch out this blind item mystery?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Babakazoo says

    Verse 1 is definitely Mick Jagger. She dropped a clue in one of her songs (I think it was on the ‘Spy’ album) where she can be heard in the background saying “The Scarf, It Was Mick’s”.

  3. Insiderher says

    Just noticed BG said “stretch out.” Could refer to James Taylor’s 1971 album Mudslide Slim.

  4. Insiderher says

    3rd Verse: Gonna go with other guesses on Sinatra. “you’re where you should be all the time” I have no clue-in the Rat Pack? A slam? Underworld spies-Sinatra’s ties to Sam Giancana & mob. With his BF’s wife: Frank was BF’s with Bogey. When Bogey was dying, Sinatra & Lauren Bacall had an affair – with Bogart’s permission!

  5. Insiderher says

    Sinatra’s a great guess-though the song baffles me. I researched it.
    Verse 4 may be about Kris Kristofferson-who was hot as hell then, and just as mean! She was also very involved with Cat Stevens. She denies any verse being about Jagger or James Taylor…which means nothing, since she’s enjoying this game. It frustrates me!

  6. nooneuno says

    Honestly, I think the song applies to her more than anyone else. 45 years and she is still hung up on this song, which gets her plenty of attention whenever she wants it. Sounds like she needs to look in the mirror, before she shades others for being vain.

    P.S. Try finding celebs in Hollywood who aren’t vain, precious few of them exist.

  7. whydoireadthis says

    I wish she would suppy a list of all the men she dated, In a book she wrote, she presents herself as kind of shy. So the number of people she dated could be small. The only guys I know for sureshe dated are James Taylor and Warren Beatty. Joni Mitchell was disappointed when Taylor married Simon.

  8. gertiewertie says

    This has dragged out for so long, there’s nothing scandalous about it at all anymore. It’s boring. Move on Carly, damn.

  9. LC1216 says

    I always thought the first verse was about Mick Jagger. I knew the second verse was Warren Beatty.

  10. mpizzle says

    “How many more years is Carly Simon going to stretch out this blind item?”

    BAHAHAH!!!!

  11. pj33558 says

    Until she’s dead. I don’t believe she’s the kiss-n-tell like today’s celebs. #Applaud her for that.

  13. CatInTheHat says

    1 Mick Jagger
    2 Warren Beatty
    3 Richard Branson
    4 Willie Donaldson (no idea why he’s a possible suspect)

  14. Catfink says

    Does she only talk about this song when she needs money?

    To answer your question, Ace, I guess when we’re all dead or when she is, LMAO.

  15. aaaSeeK says

    I’m inclined to think they’re all Beatty.

    Optional: Until the end of time. Why shouldn’t she?

    • TheSalmon says

      Nope. 4th verse references wives and Beatty had none when the song was written. Only one even now.

  16. amagod121 says

    I think guy in first verse is Mick Jagger. The young version, if course. He wore scarves and the color apricot would probably suit him. And yes, he’d have one eye on the mirror as he watched himself gavotte, which is a peasant French dance in moderately quick time where you raise your feet to dance. Mick is a dancer onstage. This verse suits him to a tee.

    Don’t know why but verse 3 reminds of Jack Nicholson.

    No clue on guy 4.

    Optional: As long as she can! It’s a fun song to…

  17. Selena says

    I have always wondered whether the first verse could be about David Bowie.
    The third verse is Mick Jagger, no doubt, he spoke all the time about his Lear jet back in the day.
    Fourth I don’t know.

  19. Vampira says

    The first verse was supposedly about Mick Jagger, even though he sang background vocals on the song. According to a biography, he always wore a scarf of (then wife) Bianca’s, and he referred to the color as apricot. She demanded the scarf back in their divorce.

    • amagod121 says

      Okay, yeah, that makes the most sense of all. Horses and a lear jet to run up to Nova Scotia didn’t sound like Mick. The horses especially has me stymied. Great song and it’s fun to guess who was who even today!

    • LC1216 says

      When I read the 3rd verse…Sinatra came to my mind too. It totally sounds like him.