Mick? Jack? Warren? Who’s So Vain?

It’s the first Throwback Thursday of 2022 and you probably think this post is about you. We head to January 6, 1972. On this day, Carly Simon hit number one on the Top 100 chart with the song “You’re So Vain”.

Along with the truth about the JFK assassination and what Bill Murray said to Scarlett Johansson at the end of the movie “Lost in Translation”, the meaning of the song has been one of the universe’s great mysteries.

The song is a brazen accusation of a past lover who is just so into himself and how terrible he treated Simon (and other women). All in the name of him.

Cut to the chase - we all now know that the main subject of the song is actor, Warren Beatty. Speculation ran wild when the song came out. Shortly before the writing of the song, Simon was married to James Taylor. She said that he was “definitely not” the subject of the song.

Other guesses over the past 50 years include Cat Stevens (who was the inspiration for the song “Anticipation”), David Bowie, Jack Nicholson and Mick Jagger. Jagger was an intriguing choice since he actually sang back-up on the song (it went uncredited).

Simon revealed the identity of one of the men to be Warren Beatty. The second verse in particular. To illustrate the kind of guy Beatty was, Simon tells a story about him in her memoir. After spending the night with Beatty, she talked about it with her therapist the next day to which the therapist told her, “All I’ll say is, you’re not the only patient of mine who spent the night last night with Warren Beatty.”

Simon does maintain that the other verses are about two other men who she will not reveal publicly. It’s said that along with Dick Ebersol, the former president of NBC Sports (who was the highest bidder of a charity auction to find out), Taylor Swift is one of the only others who knows the full truth (they performed the song together on Taylor’s Red tour).

It’s a genius song with gut-wrenching and beautiful lyrics behind an orchestral, classic rock sound. But will we all ever find out who the other men are? Who do you think it is?