Wednesday, July 05, 2006

 

Gimme an "E"!

Is Carly Simon's You're So Vain still (or was it ever) the anthem for women disgruntled by self-centered crush object?

For me, it's just an earworm, one that will always pop up when I go up to Saratoga or watch a solar eclipse. (I did think it was funny to see Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey sing it in the mostly unwatchable How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, but that's not a tribute to the song.)

The identity of the unnamed subject of You're So Vain is apparently a mystery. Neel refers us to an informative Wikipedia article which explains that the vain, Saratoga-goin', Lear-jet-flyin', apricot-scarf-wearin' mystery man is not Mick Jagger but does have an "e" in his name.

All I can say is: Carly, don't wait too long to reveal the secret, lest the handful of middle-aged people who still even give a hoot grow old and forget they once cared.

The identity of Vain Man could be the pilot for a series of a cable station time-filler shows called "Less-than-Compelling Mysteries" -- lingering secrets about matters that are either very trivial (Simon's song) or where everyone's educated guess is actually correct (who exposed Valerie Plame to the press?).

A couple of theories about "Who's So Vain."

1) It's Carly Simon herself. Check out the prominent nipples in her album cover photo. She's very vain.

2) My real name is Not Oscar Madison. It has an "e."

3) "Neel Mehta" has three "e"s.

4) Wikipedia states that "he" is not Mick Jagger, who actually sings back-up on the song. I always thought that sounded like Jagger back there, but then I thought that can't be him singing backup about how he himself is so vain. Yes it could: he's that vain.

Comments:
James Taylor? Better still, Jackson Browne. He seems to take himself just a wee bit too seriously.
 
Answer to your first question: I think so.

I wonder if the lyrics would be more accurate if they went like this: "I'm so vain, I think your life should be all about me. I'm so vain. I bet I think this song is about me. Don't you? Don't you?"
 
regarding (2): Since when?

---
ivxwe - I vex we - an ungrammatical admission to annoying not only yourself but your entire social group simultaneously.
 
Your real name has an 'e'.... you are so vain.

jgzle/jeez l'e
 
Re: album cover photo. No Secrets, indeed. Uh, thanks for sharing.

The article says that the Vain One (not Vain Man, as Carole King is a candidate) has a name with the letters A, E, and R. My middle name does have an R, so I suppose I still qualify. Still, I have to think that being born in 1974 makes me exempt from a 1972 song.

After all, Carly Simon is not Nostradamus. He had much more impressive nipples.

Personally, I think the Vain One is Tom Marvolo Riddle.

lupmd (loop-MD):
1. psychiatrist.
2. a professor who prescribes chocolate for a young wizard's dizzy spells.

mihggv (me-guh-give): I give, and give, and still no verifictionary contest results.
 
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