You're so Vain by Carly Simon mystery man

[Ausgirl]

I can totally see Bowie poncing about, baroquely..

[video=youtube;ub-BHT2hHtI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub-BHT2hHtI[/video]

 

[Donamena]

I can totally see Bowie poncing about, baroquely..

[video=youtube;ub-BHT2hHtI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub-BHT2hHtI[/video]

As could Jagger.

 

[Boodles]

Or together...
[video=youtu;9G4jnaznUoQ]http://youtu.be/9G4jnaznUoQ[/video]

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

I am not sure about all the "Letter Clues" we have for this vain guy...

Could it be Justin Bieber?

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/justin-bieber-comedy-central-roast-20150120

Bwahahaha!

:laughcry:

 

[Steely Dan]

I am not sure about all the "Letter Clues" we have for this vain guy...

Could it be Justin Bieber?

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/justin-bieber-comedy-central-roast-20150120

Bwahahaha!

:laughcry:

:shakehead: :facepalm:

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

:shakehead: :facepalm:

Sorry... couldn't resist....

 

[Elley Mae]

Not james taylor?

 

[monkey222]

Did we rule David Blue out? My brain has gone full circle..Thx.

 

[Ausgirl]

Boodles made me spit my coffee.

 

[Steely Dan]

Not james taylor?

She's ruled out Taylor, Geffen and Jagger.

Did we rule David Blue out? My brain has gone full circle..Thx.

We're still trying to pin the rules down. Ausigirl posted this...

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:[20] David. However, Simon has denied that the whisper was David, saying she has spoken "Ovid" both forwards and backwards, and that sounded like David.[8]

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."[21][22] A representative for Simon confirmed that the name whispered during the song is "David".[21] 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.[23][24] The following day Jim Hart, Simon's ex-husband and close friend, denied that the song was about Geffen.[6] 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,"[6]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_So_Vain

'If you listen carefully to the track on the new album, there is a disguised sort of a sound that contains the person,' she says. Yes . . . and? 'But he's not called David, as some people have said. There's no "v" in the word. You'd have to be a computer Einstein with a genius for unscrambling.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...mon-sang-Listen-carefully-.html#ixzz3PLSs832k

You know what else there's no 'V' in, Carly? The phrases 'attention ho' and 'milking it'.

Ausigirl bolded the above.

It seems to be contradictory.

So let's untangle this web.

First, let's focus on what Carly's said herself, http://www.carlysimon.com/You're_So_Vain.html

She did confirm the word was "Ovid", but not in 2009. She actually said that in 2010 according to her website. That actually fits the timeline of the facts:

While Carly Simon was on a plane to the UK to support her new CD Never Been Gone, one UK tabloid stated in a headline (that made it appear that Carly had announced this to them as fact) their belief that You're So Vain was about David Geffen. In reality, it was just their wild guess. Regardless, the press and social media sites spread this original rumor & mistake as fact - all over the globe - in a matter of hours....

Second, Wikipedia's part about David is misquoted. This is the actual article they link as their source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/26/AR2010022605538.html

...Indeed, about 2 1/2 minutes into Simon's 2009 re-recording, there's a cryptic whisper that sounds like "Daaaavid." Simon's rep confirms this, saying it's a clue that is also audible when you play the track backward (but really, who does that anymore?)....

The publicist didn't say David like Wiki says. He said there's a whisper that sounds like Daaaavid.

Third, the final quote is accurate. So I'll re-quote it:

...'If you listen carefully to the track on the new album, there is a disguised sort of a sound that contains the person,' she says. Yes . . . and? 'But he's not called David, as some people have said. There's no "v" in the word. You'd have to be a computer Einstein with a genius for unscrambling.'...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...mon-sang-Listen-carefully-.html#ixzz3PPc1obX3

I think she's talking about two different aspects of the recording. The backmasking is "Ovid" and then she also put the real name of the person somewhere else on the song. The person's name is not "David" there is no E in his name.

So here's what I take away from all of this.

Backwards she's saying "Ovid" and somewhere else on the song she scrambles his name in a way that you would need to be a computer genius to hear. The person she's talking about is not a "David" The word "Ovid" isn't the person's name, but a clue as to who it is, according to her publicist and herself in an interview I can't find, but had found.

So we can rule out David Bowie, David Blue, and anyone else with a V in their name. This supports my theory about Bob Dylan. It does destroy my theory of the third person being David Blue. :thinking:

 

[Steely Dan]

Boodles made me spit my coffee.

Did it cause clouds to form? :giggle:

 

[Steely Dan]

Ok, I know a lot of people will be jumping ahead to the last few pages to get caught up. A lot of people will not read every post up til now. So I'm going to list what I think we know that facts are. Somebody correct me if I get something wrong or leave out something. Here's a link to her site that has all of the public http://www.carlysimon.com/You're_So_Vain.html

The song is mainly about one person, but contains traits of three people from her L.A. days. She has said the song is a little about Warren Beatty so I'm going to assume he's one of the three.

The person's name contains the letters A, E, and R. (I'm pretty sure I saw an interview where she said B too, but it's not anywhere on the net and I could be wrong.)

James Taylor, Mick Jagger and David Geffen are definitely not subjects of the song.

The word "Ovid" has something to do with this person.

They are not named David.

A quote from Carly on her site has this part in it:

...He hob knobs with the underworld.

She says his name on the same song she backmasked "Ovid" on, but it would be almost impossible to find.

Right now I'm sticking with Robert Zimmerman (a.k.a. Bob Dylan) as the main suspect. So Bob Dylan and
Warren Beatty. So who's the third. :thinking:

Gavotting aside, perhaps it was CS's first manager, Jerry Brandt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Brandt

http://www.carlysimon.com/Biography.html

ETA: On second thought, he might gavotte (buds with Andy Warhol, flamboyant, founder of the Electric Circus -- lots of gavotting there back in the day). Likes scarves, too.

Since we now have discovered the person's name is not David your guess is back in the running.

This is directly from the link above to Carly's site:

Sheila Weller (writing for Vanity Fair) contacted Carly in London when her plane landed, and got her response: " I said “Ovid” [emphasis ours] both front- and backward together on the CD, and it came out sounding like 'David’ to some, I guess. But I meant it as an allusion to metamorphosis, and that this group of songs was rechanneled into a different cockroach. Kafka? Coffee? Clouds? I know it’s boring, but that could be good! "

BBM

Going back to a former post to point something out. She says group of songs rechanneled into a different cockroach. The "group of songs" supports the group of songs on Dylan's 2006 album that borrow from Ovid.

Ok, here's an interesting Ovid connection: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid#Ovid.27s_Influence

(2006) American musician Bob Dylan's album Modern Times contains songs with borrowed lines from Ovid's Poems of Exile, from Peter Green's translation. The songs are "Workingman's Blues #2", "Ain't Talkin'", "The Levee's Gonna Break", and "Spirit on the Water".

Suddenly Bob Dylan enters as a suspect.

ETA: Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Allen Zimmerman which satisfies the A, E, R requirement.

See, I'm more convinced than ever that it's Dylan.

 

[Ausgirl]

...underworld links, tho?

 

[Steely Dan]

...underworld links, tho?

I think she's talking about the underworld of music.

 

[Ausgirl]

...so how does 'spy' fit?

Makes me think of Russians. Or mob informants.


Ovid, metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, cockroach...:thinking:

“Was he an animal, that music could move him so?"

http://www.ericburdonalbums.com/🤬🤬🤬%20photo%20burdon%20face%20B&W.JPG

=D dunno about 'underworld'.. but dem shifty eyes!

 

[Ausgirl]

Article about Carly & Cat:

https://flowerandthevine.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/sweet-inspiration-carly-simon-and-cat-stevens/

I don't think it was him- he seemed pretty sweet on her. What a cutie he was.

 

[Nymeria]

Art is rarely if ever about only one subject.

Everybody knows her song 'Anticipation' is exclusively about ketchup, however.

:giggle: For me it's always been about "Swill"...

[video=metacafe;5378456/bill_murray_snl_classic_commercial/]http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5378456/bill_murray_snl_classic_commercial/[/video]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5378456/bill_murray_snl_classic_commercial/

 

[Nymeria]

The second best James Bond theme song. The first, obvously, in my opinion is "Live and Let Die"

O/T-
You can not leave out "You only live twice", the Coldplay version (The Nancy Sinatra is good too, but I prefer Coldplays).
The music is so beautiful....

[video=youtube;nIKyNyI6V68]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIKyNyI6V68[/video]


PS- Dang you Steely for starting this thread...totally have me off the rails now! :snooty: :giggle:


ETA- I just saw Primesuspects post after I posted this....and I concur

 

[Nymeria]

Nancy Sinatra version-

[video=youtube;XgFtQPgHyek]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgFtQPgHyek[/video]

 

[deca]

This song has a warm place in my heart. My mom liked this song and my dad would (jokingly) yell: "How could you NOT think it was about you" and my mom would just shake her head.

As far as who it could be....well in know around that time a lot of musicians hung out and played on the clubs on Sunset, a few of which were run by well known mobsters. Maybe this is the "underworld"?