Carly Simon Refutes Theory That "So Vain" Target Is David Geffen

Last week it seemed like the nearly four-decade-old mystery surrounding Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" was finally solved after the always-reliable (cough) U.K. press speculated that record exec David Geffen was the subject of Simon's 1972 hit. As Rolling Stone wrote last week, Simon had previously promised that in a newly recorded version of "You're So Vain," the name of vain man in question would be revealed when the song was played backwards. The reverse lyric sounded simply like "David," fueling rumors that Geffen, who allegedly favored Simon's musical rival Joni Mitchell, was the focus of her hit. However, Simon tells Showbiz 411 that Geffen is not the "David" in question.

"What a riot! Nothing to do with David Geffen! What a funny mistake! Someone got a clue mistaken for another mistake," Simon said in an e-mail to Showbiz 411. "How can this guessing game stop without a lie?" Simon adds that she never even knew Geffen in 1971 when the song was written, which if Simon has her timeline correct, means "You're So Vain" was penned prior to when Simon's label Elektra Records merged with Geffen's Asylum Records in 1972, the date Geffen assumed control of the combined companies.

The new version of "You're So Vain" is due on Simon's upcoming disc Never Been Gone. As Rolling Stone reported last year, Simon sued Starbucks following the tepid release of her last album, This Kind of Love, blaming the company for not providing the promised amount of album promotion due to the fact that Starbucks severed ties with Hear Music around the same time her album was released.

Related Stories:
• Is Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" About David Geffen?
• Starbucks "Very Disappointed" By Carly Simon's Lawsuit
• Carly Simon Sues Starbucks Over Failure of "This Kind of Love" LP

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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