26 Comments

I feel like Ellen did this post for me. I wrote so many notes about my daughter and her love for this song. Thank you!

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Dedicated to you and your daughter, Beth. A song that will never go out of style!

More kickass songs to come.

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This song paved the way for Taylor Swift to repeatedly diss her former boyfriends in musical form.

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I did not know that! I don't know if her boyfriends were deserving of musical dissing as I don't know a lot about Taylor Swift, but I do think Carly was entirely justified under the circumstances. (And Warren Beatty was even very pleased!)

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The song was released around the time that Carly married James Taylor, so I thought perhaps it might have been related to him as well.

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She says not, although apparently James felt threatened by Mick Jagger and married Carly quickly as a result. A part of the story I left out.

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When asked on the Mix n Match podcast recently what were the ten songs that had an impact on my taste in music, "You're So Vain" was one of them! I've loved this song since it hit number one back in '73. The lyrics were unlike anything else at the time.

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That's an excellent choice, and so true. They were such unique lyrics and created very clear images in one's mind, and who doesn't know someone this could be about (or at least the type). And she wrote such a great tune as well. I've also always loved it too.

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Btw, would you like to share the link to your Mix n Match podcast here in case a reader is interested? Please free feel to do so.

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Good golly Ellen, but this brought back memories! The soundtrack in diners and dives across America and heard in the wee hours and stupor riddled afternoons through the seventies. I'm hooked, plugged in, smell the coffee.

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Oh good. There's nothing like the smell of coffee in diners and stupor riddled afternoons in my book. Sound like good memories to me!

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Aug 13Liked by Ellen from Endwell

Thanks for the Tune Tag remembory, Ellen! Thanks, too, for far more info on Carly and this song than I could ever imagine! Certainly heard it on the radio in my last year in high school, but never really thought to dig up all that you did! To peek behind the curtain a bit often helps to "elongate" a song's lifespan (at least in my head), especially when overplay and overexposure has made it borderline "unwelcome" when it pops up on Sirius/XM oldies stations! Nicely done!

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Thanks, Brad. My superpower, if I have one, is research and putting what I discover into a compelling narrative, and I'm hopefully putting that to good use on this stack. I'm finding there is an interesting and often surprising story behind every song we love. And since I read and own so many rock biographies and autobiographies, I can sometimes find and share these stories. If it elongates the lifespan of these songs -- at least in your head, Mr Front Row and Backstage -- I consider that a great outcome!

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Aug 13Liked by Ellen from Endwell

Your cache of rock bios and autobios is a great treasury! "All" I used to read was the day's rock mags, and those are all long gone! It all still propels a lot of what I write, and I'm glad the 'net has a lot of it, too! But, I'm leaning on my long-term memory for doing this 'Stack thing, and hope it hangs on for a few years longer!

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It keeps the brain young and the drawers of the memory banks well-oiled, so it's a great strategy to use what you know.

I've been collecting the bios and autobios over the past 15 years. When I lived in England I found so many in the Oxfam second-hand book shops as people cleaned out their bookshelves and donated them to Oxfam. Since moving back here, I've found a lot the same way. I recently got a pristine hardback autographed copy of Berry Gordy's autobiography, originally $50, for only $3 in a local book and album shop. Can't beat that.

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Aug 13Liked by Ellen from Endwell

Wow, that last thing you mentioned was a Find, with a capital "F"! And, to have plundered UK stores' stock is an incredible opportunity, too, to add to what you have been able to find Stateside! When I'm not writing, I also do crossword puzzles....I have large and small puzzle books I take everywhere there might be a wait of any kind...grocery store, doctor's office, even while dining out!!

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That's a great strategy. I should get a crossword puzzle book and carry it around.

I have a jigsaw puzzle going all the time -- my latest addiction. There's a monthly puzzle exchange here -- hundreds of puzzles -- and I get them all for free. Relaxing and yet good for the ol' brain cells.

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Aug 13Liked by Ellen from Endwell

So much wasted time when we're out, right? I started to resent that wasted time just standing or sitting, and I had no control over for how long! So, now, while at the DMV renewing a license, or wherever, I just pull out a crossword book I had rolled and jammed in my pocket, and take back control of my time! And, have productive fun in the meantime!

In the late-'80s, I had a jigsaw jag, and would do them and glue them together! They became my "tacky" apartment art! I loved scenery types...mountain vistas, beaches, or Americana, or my favorite American things, like lighthouses, covered bridges and trains (or those things shown in America)!

That was when I was a youth minister at a church in L.A. county, and I'd have one or several of my high school youthers come by to listen to music or whatever, and they loved helping put them together! It kept them off the streets (where puzzle pieces were easier to lose)!!!😃

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Aug 13Liked by Ellen from Endwell

This was not the first song that I ever heard, but I believe it is the first song that I fell in love with.

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Aw, that must be a good memory for you. Hope you still love it!

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Aug 13Liked by Ellen from Endwell

It is. And I do.

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Mick Jagger sings backup, so David Bowie? Hrm, nope. I thought it was about Warren Beatty. Now HE would wear a scarf that was apricot colored.

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Yes, Carly admitted that the 2nd verse was about Warren Beatty -- agree, he's the one who would wear an apricot scarf. And another verse about a David. I'm guessing Bowie.

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