The mystery surrounding the subject of the classic Carly Simon song `You`re So Vain` has finally been revealed.
Carly Simon has ended a 38-year guessing game by revealing that the song was about the one-time head of her record label David Geffen.The revelation is made in the new recording of ‘You’re So Vain’ from her ‘Never Been Gone’ album due out this week.
‘Never Been Gone’ features new acoustic versions of her old hits including ‘You’re So Vain’. When you play the song backwards, the name David is repeated over an instrumental piece.
While she doesn’t actually say “Geffen’ in the song, it has been assumed that he is the subject. Rumours at the time named Geffen as a contender along with Mick Jagger (who sang backing vocals on the original), Cat Stevens, Warren Beatty and Kris Kristofferson.
The news will come as a shock to Warren Beatty who has often said in interviews that the song was about him. He even thanked Carly for it. He was so vain he probably did the song was about him, but it wasn’t.
At the time Simon was having arguments with Geffen who was spending most of his energy promoting his other act Joni Mitchell and not her.
So now where does this leave Dick Ebersol of NBC. In 2003, Ebersol was the highest bidder for the secret. He bid $50,000 for Carly to tell him personally who the song was about. As part of the auction Ebersol had to promise to take the secret to his grave.
