You're so Vain by Carly Simon mystery man

[Steely Dan]

It doesn't sound like David. My theory it sounds like Warren Beatty. Because of the middle of the song.

It's "Ovid". That has nothing to do with the person's name. It's just another clue to the identity.

 

[Steely Dan]

Thx. So, the clue can still be "oh vid" or "au vid" , 0..as in zero..vid, oh vido, yah? As she only enunciated it..right...? So we are here to sleuth it out :crazy: Ahhh, if only all problems were this fun to work out.

She spelled it out "Ovid" look back through the thread. Everything you've probably heard is explained. What's true and what's not true have been parsed.

 

[monkey222]

Thx, I must have missed the spelling bee :whoosh:

 

[wfgodot]

Well, sure as hell wasn't Dylan but who knows -- might be now, a song of that nature being a sort of movable feast, as it were. And Bobby's 2006 album 'Modern Times' did, I think, contain lines from a translation of (drumroll) Ovid.

 

[Steely Dan]

OK, let's get the late comers caught up on the verified clues. This will help you separate the BS from what trusted people are saying is the truth.

Here's Carly's official website on the song: http://www.carlysimon.com/You're_So_Vain.html

The David Geffen rumor was started by a London tabloid. Earlier when asked about the song she said her new album (2009) contained a clue to the identity of the person. They thought they heard David and jumped to the conclusion that it was David Geffen. Aside from Carly never having met Geffen before she wrote the song, he's openly gay.

Her publicist said it sounded like Daaaavid. This led people to believe that the guys name was David. Carly cleared this up by saying the word was "Ovid" and that she said it forward and backward so it came out sounding differently. She also said there is no V in the guys name and he's not known as David.

Carly has said it's a song combing the characteristics of three people. However, she's said "He" when referring to the song. So I think there is one main target and two lesser players.

She has said the song is a little about Warren Beatty. I'm assuming he's one of the three, but not the main guy. Warren IS vain enough to think the song is about him because he called Carly after it's release and thanked her for it.

She told Howard Stern the three names. He said he remembers one being Beatty, one other may have been Geffen (But we know he's been ruled out.) and he said he can't remember the name of the third one which in my opinion is bull cookies. Stern also said one time that the interesting part is that the guy isn't that vain. So I believe the "forgetting" is so he doesn't get hounded about it.

There is an A, E, and an R in the person's name. (I'm very sure I heard her say one time that there was a B also, but nothing on the net backs me up on that.)

She's definitely ruled out James Taylor, David Geffen and Mick Jagger.

The guy is most likely still alive. Stern said "He isn't that vain." If he said "He wasn't that vain" then it would mean the guy is dead.

Start at post #66 and you'll see how I build my case for it being Bob Dylan.

 

[kshultz06082]

I think they took her whispering "David" and then guessed Geffen. In the OP Carly laughs at it being about Geffen. Also, he's openly gay.



No, she wrote "Nobody Does it Better" about me.



Bowie is missing the R. Also, it seems to be about an American. The line "Well I hear you went to Saratoga
And your horse, naturally, won"

That makes me believe that it's a New Yorker because Saratoga raceway is in NYS about five hours from NYC.

David Bowie could actually fit the letter clues because his birth name is David Robert Jones. But did they ever date?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie

 

[Steely Dan]

David Bowie could actually fit the letter clues because his birth name is David Robert Jones. But did they ever date?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie

There's no V in the guys name and he's not known as David.

 

[Tricia]

Steely Dan this is a FANTASTIC thread. Perfect for our Websleuths members.

My apologies if this has already been discussed but Mick Jagger is a backup singer on this song.

A few years ago for charity Simon said she would tell the highest bidder who the song was all about. If you wanted to know that secret you had to bid for it.

There was one condition: The person who won the auction could not reveal to anyone else who the song is about.

The person who won was a close and dear friend to Simon, Dick Ebersol former producer of Saturday Night Live among other things.

I think he won the auction by bidding 50 grand.

Maybe if we give Carly more money for her charity she will tell us...Let me check behind my couch. I bet over the years I have lost about 56 grand in change down this big fabric beast. LOL.

 

[Tricia]

ATTENTION EVERYONE WHO POSTED ON THIS THREAD


​

This thread is so much fun that I am going to move it to our public forum and put it in the Celebrity and Entertainment News.

Only members will be able to post but all the posts will be seen by the public.

Therefore, if you do not want your post in the public thread please PM me or email me at triciastruecrimeradio.com and I will remove it.

I won't move the thread until tomorrow night.

SteelyDan thank you for making such a fantastic thread.


Everyone, thanks for participating. This is something all of American can read and enjoy, if they are around our age that is. LOL.

 

[Steely Dan]

Steely Dan this is a FANTASTIC thread. Perfect for our Websleuths members.

My apologies if this has already been discussed but Mick Jagger is a backup singer on this song.

A few years ago for charity Simon said she would tell the highest bidder who the song was all about. If you wanted to know that secret you had to bid for it.

There was one condition: The person who won the auction could not reveal to anyone else who the song is about.

The person who won was a close and dear friend to Simon, Dick Ebersol former producer of Saturday Night Live among other things.

I think he won the auction by bidding 50 grand.

Maybe if we give Carly more money for her charity she will tell us...Let me check behind my couch. I bet over the years I have lost about 56 grand in change down this big fabric beast. LOL.

I think Dick Ebersol was/is(?) the director of NBC Sports. And yes it was 50 grand he paid for it.

 

[gogrannypop]

OKay.. My guess is Bob Marley. lol

 

[Confusion]

Steely Dan this is a FANTASTIC thread. Perfect for our Websleuths members.

My apologies if this has already been discussed but Mick Jagger is a backup singer on this song.

A few years ago for charity Simon said she would tell the highest bidder who the song was all about. If you wanted to know that secret you had to bid for it.

There was one condition: The person who won the auction could not reveal to anyone else who the song is about.

The person who won was a close and dear friend to Simon, Dick Ebersol former producer of Saturday Night Live among other things.

I think he won the auction by bidding 50 grand.

Maybe if we give Carly more money for her charity she will tell us...Let me check behind my couch. I bet over the years I have lost about 56 grand in change down this big fabric beast. LOL.

BBM

I wonder if she would have told him the truth if the subject of the song had won the bid. :thinking:

 

[Steely Dan]

OKay.. My guess is Bob Marley. lol

It's "You're so Vain" not "You're so Stoned" :giggle:

BBM

I wonder if she would have told him the truth if the subject of the song had won the bid. :thinking:

:laughcry:

 

[wendybtn]

Well, mustachioed player-around-town David Crosby was a name tossed into many hats, so to speak, back in the day.

If it is him, I'll never feel the same about that song again! I'll stick with Mick or Kris or Warren.

 

[Steely Dan]

If it is him, I'll never feel the same about that song again! I'll stick with Mick or Kris or Warren.

It's not about DC.

In the book about Neil Young I read it said that back in sixties DC was the guy everybody wanted to work with. IIRC.

 

[wendybtn]

And exactly who among those men walks in a 'gavotte' style?

Maybe the gavotte reminds her of Moves Like Jagger??!

 

[Confusion]

Here's another quote to think on.

In 1974, she told Modern Hi-Fi and Music: "That song is about a lot of people. I mean I can think of a lot of people. The actual examples that I've used in the song are from my imagination, but the stimulus is directly from a couple of different sources. It's not just about one particular person."

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=536

 

[gogrannypop]

It's "You're so Vain" not "You're so Stoned" :giggle:



:laughcry:

Hey! I'm not...Oh wait. :thinking:

 

[Steely Dan]

Here's another quote to think on.


http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=536

Well she's said it's about three people, but I'm assuming mainly one. One of the guys is most likely Warren Beatty. He's not the main person though.

I found this to be very, very interesting from that website:

...In fact, one day in mid-June of 1972, a colleague and I were in the radio station when the record was played. When that particular lyric was heard, he turned to me and said, "that would be nice." I knew he meant that it would be nice to fly to Nova Scotia and see the eclipse the next month.

There was a total eclipse of the Sun on July 10, 1972 and Nova Scotia would be one of the best places to observe this particular eclipse (see an image of the eclipse).

Even though Carly Simon wrote the lyric in past-tense, she was really writing about an actual event in the not-too-distant future!

This brings-up several questions:
- Did she write the lyric in past-tense because she did not think the record would be released until after the eclipse? Or she did not think it would become popular until after the eclipse?
- Did this guy tell her about the upcoming eclipse and his plans to see it? Or did she know about the eclipse herself or did some other friend tell her about it as she was writing the lyrics - and she knew this guy would possibly fly to Nova Scotia to see the eclipse?
- Did this guy actually fly to Nova Scotia to see the eclipse? Or, did the release of this record actually make him decide NOT to fly to Nova Scotia to see the eclipse (AND, was this Carly Simon's purpose in writing the lyric)?...

I didn't know that the eclipse hadn't happened yet. :thinking:

 

[Confusion]

I actually checked out when there were total solar eclipses around the time she was probably writing the song. There was one in '67, '68, '70 and '72. If what she said was true (that the events were from her imagination), it's very possible that he never went to see any of them in Nova Scotia, but always watched them and did a lot of traveling (in Lear jets!) I always wondered if any of the usual suspects owned a race horse, or if she just meant he was lucky in gambling.