Before Simon rewrote the lyrics, the song was titled "Bless You, Ben". Simon used the word "
gavotte", a French dance, as it provided a necessary rhyme and "that's what a pretentious, vain man would do". or the
Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972, which was only visible in northern and eastern Canada. Simon told the
CBC that she took artistic license with the reference, and the subject may not have actually witnessed the eclipse in
Nova Scotia. In the 2012 biography
More Room in a Broken Heart: The True Adventures of Carly Simon, she stated: "I didn't know anyone who raced at Saratoga or went to view the total eclipse[;] I just wanted to portray someone who thought he was ultra-cool."
Subject (pictured in 1961) was one inspiration for the lyrics. In 1972, Simon told an interviewer that the song was about "men", not a specific man. who contributed uncredited
backing vocals to the song (Simon said she invited him to join the recording when he made a call into the studio). In a 1993 book,
Angie Bowie said she was the "wife of a close friend" mentioned in the song, and that Jagger had been "obsessed" with her. Simon appeared as a guest artist on
Janet Jackson's 2001 single "
Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)", which
sampled "You're So Vain". In "Son of a Gun", Simon recites the lines "The apricot scarf was worn by Nick / Nothing in the words referred to Mick." "Nick" is the novelist
Nicholas Delbanco, whom Simon dated in the 1960s.
David Bowie,
David Cassidy and
Cat Stevens have been cited by the press as other possibilities. In August 2003, Simon agreed to reveal the subject to the highest bidder of the
Martha's Vineyard Possible Dreams charity auction. The highest bid was $50,000 from Simon's friend
Dick Ebersol, the president of
NBC Sports. A condition of the prize was that Ebersol not reveal the name. Simon allowed him to divulge a clue, and he said the person's name contained the letter E. In 2004, Simon said the name also contained the letters A and R. In 2005, Simon's ex-husband, Jim Hart, said he was sure the song was not about anyone famous. In her 2008 book
Girls Like Us, Sheila Weller includes a detailed account of Simon's love affair with the musician
Dan Armstrong, suggesting that he was the inspiration. However, Simon's heartbreak over losing him inspired the song "Dan, My Fling", which appeared on her first album. After her 2014 interview on his radio show,
Howard Stern said Simon had privately revealed the identity to him, saying, "There is an odd aspect to it... He's not that vain." He also said it was a composite of three people. Simon confirmed that she had given the names to a few people, including Stern. In an interview for
WNYC in November 2009, Simon said she had hidden the name of the subject in a new recording of the song. In 2010, a representative for Simon said the name was "David". Media outlets speculated that the subject was the
Elektra Records executive
David Geffen. Hart immediately downplayed this. Simon later claimed she had not met Geffen when she wrote the song in 1971. Simon's publicist confirmed the song was not about Geffen, but that there was "a David who is connected to the song in some way, shape, or form". After her performance of the song with Simon in July 2013, the songwriter
Taylor Swift said that Simon had revealed the identity of the subject to her in confidence. In 1983, Simon said the actor
Warren Beatty "certainly thought it was about him—he called me and said thanks for the song". In November 2015, Simon, promoting her memoirs, said, "I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren ... Warren thinks the whole thing is about him ... Now, that doesn't mean that the other two verses aren't also about Warren. It just means that the second one is." The song originally had a fourth verse, possibly including another subject. ==Reception==