Carly Simon songs to listen to - Anticipation … Coming Around Again … Nobody Does It Better … That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be … Haven’t Got Time For the Pain.
I don’t know how you could be alive on this planet and not have heard this song… really! There are 50+ yrs of ‘questions’ about WHO this person is.. as Carly is an EPIC performer from the 60s and onward (she was married to James Taylor). She doesn’t have a bad song (IMO).. and she has many. Thanks for a wonderful blast from the past, and for your reaction!
Well you should love this channel and great UA-cam reactors because I've spent last 6 years talented reactors of different countries and or colors that have no clue of what is considered popular culture. I assure you it's legit 100000%
I thought the "I had some dreams-they were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee..." was exactly what it looks like--you pour the cream and for a moment it's lovely--like beautiful clouds--but it's fleeting; next moment it's not worth much--the beauty has gone. Carly Simon is super talented; singer, songwriter, piano player. The entire No Secrets album is terrific.
You're So Vain is in fact about 3 different male suitors Carly had in her life up until 1972.. Verse 2 is specifically about actor, director, producer Warren Beatty. Many have speculated Mick Jagger, James Taylor and Cat Stevens. Carly has denied any of the verses are about them.
Carly Simon has only ever revealed who the song is about to one person and it isn't you. The only thing she has revealed publicly is that it is about one person, not multiple people and the name contains an "a" in it.
She’s made both statements, that the song was about one man, and that the song was about multiple men. She’s also give clues about the name or names, stating one time that it had an “e” in it, then another time she said it had an “a” in it and yet another time she said it had an “r” in it 😂 I think she likes to play into the mystery of the song. It’s a secret she’s been able to keep for decades by playing it this way. Genius! 🤣
She was flying on a jet drinking coffee, and when she put the coffee down, she saw the reflection of the clouds in the coffee. That's how she came up with the lyric. The meaning is till up to interpretation!!!
If you listen to the original studio cut at the 1:40 minute mark you'll recognize the background singer. It's Mick Jagger. Great analysis as always. As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
Carly Simon is a true singer- songwriter. She wrote so many wonderful, personal songs. I still love to listen to her albums. I still have my "No Secrets" and "Hotcakes" LPs.
Carly has refused to publicize Everyone the song is about. Warren Beatty has been acknowledged as one of the offenders. However, a select few evidently do know and are basically sworn to secrecy. A few years ago, supposedly she told Taylor Swift. However, unless it’s disclosed in her Will, don’t expect to ever know for certain.
She allowed the names to be auctioned off for charity with the provision that the buyer sign an NDA. The buyer, coincidentally enough, was a friend of hers from the TV industry, he paid $50,00.00 for the name.
I can't believe you never heard this song. The question always was who is she talking about. You keep taking me a trups down memory lane and i love it. Love you reactions. You are so spot on.
Almost certain we all know at least one person this song could be about 🤣 I adore her for refusing to reveal the identity or identities of the main character, the mystery is delicious and adds to the irony, love it.
I think you'd really appreciate her song, That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be. The lyrics are cutting and insightful. There's an iconic live version where she's playing the keyboard.
Carley Simon, born with a gold spoon in her mouth. Her father being Richard Simon of Simon and Shuster. Carley was married to James Taylor and gave birth to two of his children. He was pretty messed up on drugs and such which I would guess caused the demise of the marriage. The general consensus is that the song is about the actor Warren Beaty as they had dated before the song was written
And word has it that he was a narcissist and stunk, as in he was malodorous. That was also confirmed for me by hospital personnel that care for his mother as a patient. Conversely, his sister Shirley MacLaine, was completely the opposite, down to earth and clean smelling.
I love Carly Simon, her music seems so heartfelt and honest. She has social anxiety and had stopped performing in public, she finally put on a concert in her hometown for friends, family and people in her town. It was released on DVD, here's the great closing number COMING AROUND AGAIN/ ITSY BITSY SPIDER: ua-cam.com/video/q9cidpLcPgA/v-deo.html
When this song came out, I was at university in the US. Everybody talked about it. The presumption at the time, back in the 1970s was that it was about Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty. As discussed by previous commenters, Ms. Simon has disclosed that Beatty was one of three men she was singing about. She had a famously tumultuous marriage with the equally brilliant singer/songwriter James Taylor from 1972 (when the song was recorded to 1973). You might want to consider listening to one of James Taylor's early hits like the song "Fire and Rain."
In August 2003, Simon agreed to reveal the name of the song's subject to the highest bidder of the Martha's Vineyard Possible Dreams charity auction. With the top bid of $50,000, Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports and a friend of Simon, won the right to know the name of the subject of "You're So Vain". Peace out.
I always thought the "clouds in my coffee" line was about how when you first pour in the cream, it's really pretty and interesting and then it quickly disappears and makes the coffee less-than and weaker. The dreams she had about whoever this guy is, dissipated and turned into nothing quickly.
This song is about David Geffen. people used to say it was about Mick Jagger. it's not but he does sing backing vocals on the track, you can hear him clearly toward the end of the studio version. This opens such a great genre. female singer-songwriters from the 70's Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Laura Nyro, Patti Smith. Roberta Flack. etc. | Check out an album-listen: Tapestry by Carole King, another carly simon song would be "nobody does it better" studio version or the cover by "Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies"
About the coffee, some people can read the future by looking the bottom of the cup after you drink. I'm not a believer of those "myths" (broken mirror, black cat, etc...) but, I was engaged to a girl in my twenties. One day we're having coffee with a friend of hears that ask me not to shake the cup after finish drinking, just pose down. She looked at the bottom of the cup for few seconds and said that I was get married and have two boys, then looked at my fiance cup and said she would marry a man with a name that started with M and was going to have four kids. I got married years later and got two boys, she got married to a man with a name the started with M and have four kids! Excuse my English, not my first language.
She is such a damn good songwriter in addition to her vocals and instrumental skills. (It must run in the family because her sister is a damn fine songwriter also.)
Dovonan, Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer, has a very beautiful composition with very peculiar lyrics called Wear Your Love Like Heaven.
So, recently I read that it's actually about three different people, which is why the chorus makes sense. The song isn't really about any of them, but rather about her encounters with men, with them as examples. I don't know if that's accurate or not. But it does make sense.
It would be difficult to exaggerate just how big this song was. Played ALL the time on the radio. Her posters everywhere. TV performances and interviews. She was big and this song was big.
The actor Warren Beatty was quite the thing back in the day, and was rumored to be the vain one. Imagine him hearing this on the radio and wondering, “Is this song about me?”
Each verse is about a different lover of hers. The first is Warren Beatty and the second is James Taylor. She hasn't revealed who the other verses are about
Similar to "Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry, this song has been the subject of ~50 years of speculation. Both are good fun for going down the rabbit hole.
You should react to Nobody Does it Better( James Bond theme song) anticipation, that's the way I always heard it should be and many many more by Carly Simon
Her point with the lyric (which I think is so brilliant), "you're so vain, you probably think this song is about you" is that a secure man would either wonder, consider the possibility that it isn't, or not care at all, the narcissist she's singing about (and if you've ever spent any significant time around a narcissist, you could attest to this, I'm sure) doesn't consider whether it might or might not-- he thinks it's about him, because what isn't about him? Brilliant writing.
I love the way she describes the man/men as being bigger than life (stroking their ego) and then knocks them down with the “I bet you think this song is about you.”
It's definitively one hundred percent only about Warren B. Carley raffled off the identity to the highest bidder for a charity forty years after the songs' release. Originally the winner signed a NDA to keep it to themselves, but then Carley just let loose with it in an interview hilariously, admitting she didn't want someone else to steal her thunder of the reveal. She went out of her way to apologize to Annette Benning and praise her as a better woman than her and she was an amazing performer. And Carley can absolutely do whatever she wants cause she is an artist following a long tradition of using their craft as therapy art and she had the tact and class not to name drop the dude in the song or press back in the day when he was the king prince of Hollywood and it mattered. The lyrics are hilarious in their poetic catty lyricism. Reminds me of Taylor Swift or Alanis Moressete in their hay day. Gentlemen, you don't want to piss off and do dirty singer song writers. Not only will they crank out a diss track in your dishonor calling you out, the song will be a banger and become immortalized never leaving the airwaves of oldie stations one day forever or public consciousness or zeitgeist in some way.
check out carly and james taylor doing the song Mockingbird. A great performance. You'll love it. Amazing how we can be so busy with our lives we miss things like this. Fortunately, sometimes we catch them up later.
It is about someone. But is it about the one -- or many -- who think it's about them? Carly came from a VERY wealthy family -- her father was a co-founder of major publishing company Simon and Schuster -- and dated several famous and/or rich men and married a couple. It certainly was about at least one of them (rumor has it 3), but she has never confirmed who. (Some say Warren Beatty is confirmed, some say he's not.) It was fun speculating when it came out 50 years ago (damn, I feel old), and it's still fun today. Thanks for a fresh reaction.
I never thought about it until this listen to the song, but it an earlier version of Alannis Morrisette’s “You Oughta Know.” Both great songs by great singer/songwriters about being screwed over in a relationship that tell the truth about things.
I'm an Austrian guy, so not a native English speaker. But "clouds in my coffee" always ment to me : yes, it happend, rose me up for a while, but it doesn't bother me anymore.
Carly Simon did reveal the second verse was about Warren Beatty in a People magazine article. I always thought it was about one guy, but I guess each verse was a different guy. She said it makes sense that Warren would think the whole song was about him. So, I guess Beatty figured it out because she is mum on the other guys until they figure it out. If they haven't by now, I don't think they ever will.
Pour cream into coffee. At first there are pretty clouds billowing in the coffee, but they quickly vanish as the whole cup turns into one ‘café au lait’ color. So she’s saying that her dreams about this guy were like ‘clouds in her coffee’ - beautiful at first, but then quickly dissolved.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone side with the guy/guys in this song! I don’t know what recording you played but to me she actually seemed to be having an off day. That or she was older and her voice wasn’t quite as good as it was in her younger years, or maybe it was at the end of a concert. She didn’t quite hit the higher note on the “Don’t you? Don’t you?” part. She still sounds great but I wanted you to know that the studio version is even better. As others have said, she has some great songs. I didn’t see anyone mention Mockingbird, which she sang with her then husband James Taylor. It was released in 1974. Their voices went well together and they collaborated on several songs. I would recommend starting with the studio version of Mockingbird.
Regarding the line, "I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee", this the vision in her minds eye of a future with the other person that vanished like steam off a hot cup of coffee.
Props to Carly for being coy about the subject(s) of this song for over 50 years. - -”In November 2015, Simon, promoting her about-to-be-published memoirs, said, "I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren (Beatty)" and added that "Warren thinks the whole thing is about him". Simon added to the mystery by including “Now, that doesn't mean that the other two verses aren't also about Warren,” she told the BBC. “It just means that the second one is.” - Wiki
The description in the first verse definitely sounds like Warren. The hat and the scarf are exactly how he dressed at the time. There were always pictures in the magazines.
Although she had said this song was not about James Taylor who she had been married to for a time. However it seemed obvious since this was shortly after they parted ways.
I remember hearing when Carly was interviewed by Jim Ladd on his "innerview" segment on the radio. It was on youtube but can't find it now. I think she went to his house and she talked about a critic who upset her when he said she sounds like a horse whinnying and she responded to it, then a time when she met some teenage girls and she bought them lunch, it was a relaxing calm interview that was really good.
It's about more than one man in her life ... possibly. Imagine all the famous playboys that wondered for years if this song was actually about "them" lol. For more Carly, PLEASE check out "Coming Around Again" and my favorite Bond song "Nobody Does it Better"
The lore is that she auctioned off the name of the person who the song was about for more than 1 million dollars... Not that she needed it because she's the heires to the Simon and Schuster company. Fortune
Carly Simon dated Warren Beatty and Mick Jagger. She was also married to James Taylor. All of these men could get ladies any time they wanted to and had a bit of conceit. Of the three none exactly knew who the sang was about, but she knew they would all think it was them. Brilliant..
Carly Simon songs to listen to - Anticipation … Coming Around Again … Nobody Does It Better … That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be … Haven’t Got Time For the Pain.
"Let the River Run" is my personal favorite.
I don’t know how you could be alive on this planet and not have heard this song… really! There are 50+ yrs of ‘questions’ about WHO this person is.. as Carly is an EPIC performer from the 60s and onward (she was married to James Taylor). She doesn’t have a bad song (IMO).. and she has many. Thanks for a wonderful blast from the past, and for your reaction!
You better make sure he knows who James Taylor is.
Well you should love this channel and great UA-cam reactors because I've spent last 6 years talented reactors of different countries and or colors that have no clue of what is considered popular culture. I assure you it's legit 100000%
I thought the "I had some dreams-they were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee..." was exactly what it looks like--you pour the cream and for a moment it's lovely--like beautiful clouds--but it's fleeting; next moment it's not worth much--the beauty has gone. Carly Simon is super talented; singer, songwriter, piano player. The entire No Secrets album is terrific.
You're So Vain is in fact about 3 different male suitors Carly had in her life up until 1972.. Verse 2 is specifically about actor, director, producer Warren Beatty. Many have speculated Mick Jagger, James Taylor and Cat Stevens. Carly has denied any of the verses are about them.
It would be ironic if part of it was about Jagger, since he sang backing vocals on the studio version.
Carly Simon has only ever revealed who the song is about to one person and it isn't you. The only thing she has revealed publicly is that it is about one person, not multiple people and the name contains an "a" in it.
@@matthewsann6077, well, she said one was David Geffen. But I also heard that every verse was about a different person.
Spot on. 3 different men and much speculation over the years. All time classic!
She’s made both statements, that the song was about one man, and that the song was about multiple men. She’s also give clues about the name or names, stating one time that it had an “e” in it, then another time she said it had an “a” in it and yet another time she said it had an “r” in it 😂 I think she likes to play into the mystery of the song. It’s a secret she’s been able to keep for decades by playing it this way. Genius! 🤣
She was flying on a jet drinking coffee, and when she put the coffee down, she saw the reflection of the clouds in the coffee. That's how she came up with the lyric. The meaning is till up to interpretation!!!
If you listen to the original studio cut at the 1:40 minute mark you'll recognize the background singer. It's Mick Jagger.
Great analysis as always.
As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
Carly Simon is a true singer- songwriter. She wrote so many wonderful, personal songs. I still love to listen to her albums. I still have my "No Secrets" and "Hotcakes" LPs.
Anticipation Is another great song by Carly Simon, back in the seventies it was used in a ketsup commercial.
That’s the Way I,ve Always Heard It Sohoul Be. Amazing vocals.
Carly has refused to publicize Everyone the song is about. Warren Beatty has been acknowledged as one of the offenders. However, a select few evidently do know and are basically sworn to secrecy. A few years ago, supposedly she told Taylor Swift. However, unless it’s disclosed in her Will, don’t expect to ever know for certain.
She allowed the names to be auctioned off for charity with the provision that the buyer sign an NDA. The buyer, coincidentally enough, was a friend of hers from the TV industry, he paid $50,00.00 for the name.
I can't believe you never heard this song. The question always was who is she talking about. You keep taking me a trups down memory lane and i love it. Love you reactions. You are so spot on.
Almost certain we all know at least one person this song could be about 🤣 I adore her for refusing to reveal the identity or identities of the main character, the mystery is delicious and adds to the irony, love it.
Carly has never said who this was about, however speculation says its about Warren Beatty. Its been a mystery since the early 70s.
A great blast from the past!
I think you'd really appreciate her song, That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be. The lyrics are cutting and insightful. There's an iconic live version where she's playing the keyboard.
Carley Simon, born with a gold spoon in her mouth. Her father being Richard Simon of
Simon and Shuster.
Carley was married to James Taylor and gave birth to two of his children.
He was pretty messed up on drugs and such which I would guess caused the
demise of the marriage.
The general consensus is that the song is about the actor Warren Beaty as they had dated before the song was written
And word has it that he was a narcissist and stunk, as in he was malodorous. That was also confirmed for me by hospital personnel that care for his mother as a patient. Conversely, his sister Shirley MacLaine, was completely the opposite, down to earth and clean smelling.
I love Carly Simon, her music seems so heartfelt and honest. She has social anxiety and had stopped performing in public, she finally put on a concert in her hometown for friends, family and people in her town. It was released on DVD, here's the great closing number COMING AROUND AGAIN/ ITSY BITSY SPIDER: ua-cam.com/video/q9cidpLcPgA/v-deo.html
When this song came out, I was at university in the US. Everybody talked about it. The presumption at the time, back in the 1970s was that it was about Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty. As discussed by previous commenters, Ms. Simon has disclosed that Beatty was one of three men she was singing about. She had a famously tumultuous marriage with the equally brilliant singer/songwriter James Taylor from 1972 (when the song was recorded to 1973). You might want to consider listening to one of James Taylor's early hits like the song "Fire and Rain."
I’ll never forget when this song was released in 1972, one of the best Carly Simon songs, she great
In August 2003, Simon agreed to reveal the name of the song's subject to the highest bidder of the Martha's Vineyard Possible Dreams charity auction. With the top bid of $50,000, Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports and a friend of Simon, won the right to know the name of the subject of "You're So Vain". Peace out.
I didn’t know that. Was he sworn to secrecy as part of the deal?
@@terri2494 Yes he was.
Oh man, I just need to hear those first two chords and I am right back to the 1970's when this song hit the airwaves. ((sigh)) Such good memories!
I always thought the "clouds in my coffee" line was about how when you first pour in the cream, it's really pretty and interesting and then it quickly disappears and makes the coffee less-than and weaker. The dreams she had about whoever this guy is, dissipated and turned into nothing quickly.
Exactly...well put!
Nicely said!
I never saw it that way but it fits perfectly!
This song is about David Geffen. people used to say it was about Mick Jagger. it's not but he does sing backing vocals on the track, you can hear him clearly toward the end of the studio version.
This opens such a great genre. female singer-songwriters from the 70's Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Laura Nyro, Patti Smith. Roberta Flack. etc. |
Check out an album-listen: Tapestry by Carole King, another carly simon song would be "nobody does it better" studio version or the cover by "Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies"
✨The song about David Geffen was “Free Man in Paris”, by Joni Mitchell.✨🫶🏼✨
She did do it to " this guy" whoever he is...lol...and did it well!
Love this song!
Carly was doing diss tracks before diss tracks were a thing. :D
I think clouds in her coffee, is probably her tears.
About the coffee, some people can read the future by looking the bottom of the cup after you drink. I'm not a believer of those "myths" (broken mirror, black cat, etc...) but, I was engaged to a girl in my twenties. One day we're having coffee with a friend of hears that ask me not to shake the cup after finish drinking, just pose down. She looked at the bottom of the cup for few seconds and said that I was get married and have two boys, then looked at my fiance cup and said she would marry a man with a name that started with M and was going to have four kids. I got married years later and got two boys, she got married to a man with a name the started with M and have four kids! Excuse my English, not my first language.
That’s exactly it about the coffee, when you first pour it billows through thee coffee like a cloud.
Todd Rundgren “Hello it’s me” or Carole King “It’s too Late”. Both great story songs to check out✌️👍
Hollywood playboy actor. Hooked up with many actresses
Mick Jagger is singing backup on this song.
Yes, on the studio record. And it's fire.
She is such a damn good songwriter in addition to her vocals and instrumental skills. (It must run in the family because her sister is a damn fine songwriter also.)
It is cathartic
Good reaction. You nailed it!
Heard this on the radio the other day. After the first verse, I said, “I think this song is about me.” The chorus came like a slap in the face.
Beautiful song.
You should hear the studio version. Beautiful song.
My favorite Carly Simon song is 'Memorial Day' from the album 'Spy'.
Surely one of the best solo female songs ever!😘
The coffee line, I took it as coffee being a source of clarity. Clouds in a coffee is fog in that clarity.
Dovonan, Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer, has a very beautiful composition with very peculiar lyrics called Wear Your Love Like Heaven.
So, recently I read that it's actually about three different people, which is why the chorus makes sense. The song isn't really about any of them, but rather about her encounters with men, with them as examples. I don't know if that's accurate or not. But it does make sense.
Love her music, shows her vulnerability and shares it with us. I have had a crush on her for over 50 years.
It would be difficult to exaggerate just how big this song was. Played ALL the time on the radio. Her posters everywhere. TV performances and interviews. She was big and this song was big.
She put creamer in her coffee and it looked like clouds
The actor Warren Beatty was quite the thing back in the day, and was rumored to be the vain one. Imagine him hearing this on the radio and wondering, “Is this song about me?”
Each verse is about a different lover of hers. The first is Warren Beatty and the second is James Taylor. She hasn't revealed who the other verses are about
She said in a People magazine article that the second verse only is about Warren Beatty. She has not revealed who the other verses are about.
"Clouds in my coffee" is tears falling in the coffee and the results of the mixing
Similar to "Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry, this song has been the subject of ~50 years of speculation. Both are good fun for going down the rabbit hole.
Beautiful reaction.
Afternoon Mr. Boyd, Love the show!
You should react to Nobody Does it Better( James Bond theme song) anticipation, that's the way I always heard it should be and many many more by Carly Simon
Verse 1: Nick Delbanco
Verse 2: Warren Beatty
Verse 3: Joe Namath
Her point with the lyric (which I think is so brilliant), "you're so vain, you probably think this song is about you" is that a secure man would either wonder, consider the possibility that it isn't, or not care at all, the narcissist she's singing about (and if you've ever spent any significant time around a narcissist, you could attest to this, I'm sure) doesn't consider whether it might or might not-- he thinks it's about him, because what isn't about him? Brilliant writing.
It was thought that this song was about Warren Beatty, who was a reputed ladies man and vain.
I love the way she describes the man/men as being bigger than life (stroking their ego) and then knocks them down with the “I bet you think this song is about you.”
Carly Simon of the Simon and a Schuster simons. She is so great.
It's definitively one hundred percent only about Warren B. Carley raffled off the identity to the highest bidder for a charity forty years after the songs' release. Originally the winner signed a NDA to keep it to themselves, but then Carley just let loose with it in an interview hilariously, admitting she didn't want someone else to steal her thunder of the reveal. She went out of her way to apologize to Annette Benning and praise her as a better woman than her and she was an amazing performer. And Carley can absolutely do whatever she wants cause she is an artist following a long tradition of using their craft as therapy art and she had the tact and class not to name drop the dude in the song or press back in the day when he was the king prince of Hollywood and it mattered. The lyrics are hilarious in their poetic catty lyricism. Reminds me of Taylor Swift or Alanis Moressete in their hay day. Gentlemen, you don't want to piss off and do dirty singer song writers. Not only will they crank out a diss track in your dishonor calling you out, the song will be a banger and become immortalized never leaving the airwaves of oldie stations one day forever or public consciousness or zeitgeist in some way.
check out carly and james taylor doing the song Mockingbird. A great performance. You'll love it. Amazing how we can be so busy with our lives we miss things like this. Fortunately, sometimes we catch them up later.
It is about someone. But is it about the one -- or many -- who think it's about them? Carly came from a VERY wealthy family -- her father was a co-founder of major publishing company Simon and Schuster -- and dated several famous and/or rich men and married a couple. It certainly was about at least one of them (rumor has it 3), but she has never confirmed who. (Some say Warren Beatty is confirmed, some say he's not.) It was fun speculating when it came out 50 years ago (damn, I feel old), and it's still fun today. Thanks for a fresh reaction.
the clouds aren't really in the coffee, bro. she was fixated on things that weren't even there, just reflections.
This song was about Warren Beatty
for years the guess was between Cat Stevens and Warren Beatty . She reveal a few years ago that it was mostly based on Beatty.
I never thought about it until this listen to the song, but it an earlier version of Alannis Morrisette’s “You Oughta Know.” Both great songs by great singer/songwriters about being screwed over in a relationship that tell the truth about things.
She is daughter of Simon from the publishers Simon & Schuster
❤❤❤
The song refers to her former lover the singer James Taylor
I d recommend "That s the Way I Always heard it Should Be."
They say she wrote this about Warren Beatty. When she was asked her all she said was, " Warren".
The rumor is that it’s about actor Warren Beatty. She had a thing with him back in the day.
Singer Mark Wills this song is so beautiful the name of the record is Don’t Laugh at Me
I'm an Austrian guy, so not a native English speaker. But
"clouds in my coffee" always ment to me : yes, it happend, rose me up for a while, but it doesn't bother me anymore.
Carly Simon did reveal the second verse was about Warren Beatty in a People magazine article. I always thought it was about one guy, but I guess each verse was a different guy. She said it makes sense that Warren would think the whole song was about him. So, I guess Beatty figured it out because she is mum on the other guys until they figure it out. If they haven't by now, I don't think they ever will.
This song is definitely about someone specific, but Carly has never divulged who the song was about.
Rumer was always it was about Warren Beatty. You should hear the original studio version where you can hear Mick Jagger on background vocals.
She was married to James Taylor and she mentions Saratoga, NY where I saw 20 rock concerts.
Pour cream into coffee. At first there are pretty clouds billowing in the coffee, but they quickly vanish as the whole cup turns into one ‘café au lait’ color. So she’s saying that her dreams about this guy were like ‘clouds in her coffee’ - beautiful at first, but then quickly dissolved.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone side with the guy/guys in this song!
I don’t know what recording you played but to me she actually seemed to be having an off day. That or she was older and her voice wasn’t quite as good as it was in her younger years, or maybe it was at the end of a concert. She didn’t quite hit the higher note on the “Don’t you? Don’t you?” part. She still sounds great but I wanted you to know that the studio version is even better. As others have said, she has some great songs. I didn’t see anyone mention Mockingbird, which she sang with her then husband James Taylor. It was released in 1974. Their voices went well together and they collaborated on several songs. I would recommend starting with the studio version of Mockingbird.
Regarding the line, "I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee", this the vision in her minds eye of a future with the other person that vanished like steam off a hot cup of coffee.
Anticipation by Carlie Simon
☮️💙💙💙😎
Props to Carly for being coy about the subject(s) of this song for over 50 years. - -”In November 2015, Simon, promoting her about-to-be-published memoirs, said, "I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren (Beatty)" and added that "Warren thinks the whole thing is about him". Simon added to the mystery by including “Now, that doesn't mean that the other two verses aren't also about Warren,” she told the BBC. “It just means that the second one is.” - Wiki
The description in the first verse definitely sounds like Warren. The hat and the scarf are exactly how he dressed at the time. There were always pictures in the magazines.
I like rhyming yacht, apricot and gavotte.
Fun fact! Mick Jagger sings back up on the studio version!
Although she had said this song was not about James Taylor who she had been married to for a time. However it seemed obvious since this was shortly after they parted ways.
Warren Beaty.
I remember hearing when Carly was interviewed by Jim Ladd on his "innerview" segment on the radio. It was on youtube but can't find it now. I think she went to his house and she talked about a critic who upset her when he said she sounds like a horse whinnying and she responded to it, then a time when she met some teenage girls and she bought them lunch, it was a relaxing calm interview that was really good.
It's believed the song is specifically about actor and well known ladies man Warren Beatty.
It's about more than one man in her life ... possibly. Imagine all the famous playboys that wondered for years if this song was actually about "them" lol. For more Carly, PLEASE check out "Coming Around Again" and my favorite Bond song "Nobody Does it Better"
She always had the hottest album covers. Yeah.
The lore is that she auctioned off the name of the person who the song was about for more than 1 million dollars... Not that she needed it because she's the heires to the Simon and Schuster company. Fortune
I always heard Beaty.
Yes she was slamming these guys but very subtly! with tongue firmly in cheek.
Kris Krstofferson "The Pilgrim" very clever lyrics.
Clouds in my coffee: the creamer eventually dissipates and disappears into the coffee. Like her dreams disappear.
Don't worry about it.
THAT'S THE WAY I ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE, YOU BELONG TO ME.
One of the theories is it was about Warren Beatty, but i don't think it was ever confirmed.
Carly Simon dated Warren Beatty and Mick Jagger. She was also married to James Taylor. All of these men could get ladies any time they wanted to and had a bit of conceit. Of the three none exactly knew who the sang was about, but she knew they would all think it was them. Brilliant..
I can't believe that Carly Simon wrote a song about me.