Carly Simon Reveals Lost Verse To “You’re So Vain”
“You’re So Vain” is one of pop music’s all-time great kiss-off anthems, and much of its power is in its ambiguity. Ever since its release in 1972, Carly Simon has been extremely cagey about she’s addressing when she sings, “You’re so vain/ You probably think this song is about you.” She’s still not laying it all out there, but Rolling Stone points out that in a new BBC interview she revealed a previously unreleased fourth verse. It reads like so:
A friend of yours revealed to me that you’d loved me all the time / Kept it secret from your wives / You believed it was no crime
You called me once to ask me things / I couldn’t quite divine / Maybe that’s why I have tried to dismiss you, tried to dismiss you / And you’re so vain
Simon did say in 2015 that the song’s second verse refers to actor Warren Beatty, lending credence to the idea that it’s not about one individual person but a composite of several men. Hear Simon perform the new verse here.