Who sings backing vocals on the Carly Simon song ‘You’re So Vain’?
Carly Simon spoke for the victims of narcissistic men everywhere with her timeless 1972 single ‘You’re So Vain’. The song was a global smash in large part thanks to its lyrics with their flawless rhyming scheme and belter of a chorus, which never ceases to bring a smile to everyone who sings it.
The track is a prime example of how to break the fourth wall of the self-contained universe in which most songs about romance seem to exist, written about no one in particular and addressed to an artist’s fanbase at large. ‘You’re So Vain’ playfully subverts this idea with the line “You probably think this song is about you”, making it quite clear to whoever is listening that the song isn’t about them.
Yet it doesn’t do so in a contrived manner, featuring lines which Simon seems to have written straight from the heart, based on personal experience. She describes her dreams as “clouds in my coffee” and refers to her subject with the kind of specificity that only comes with real-life tribulations, describing her scarf as “apricot” in colour.
That’s not to say that the piece didn’t take a lot of crafting, with Simon working on the words for an entire year. She and producer Richard Perry wanted to make sure it was recorded in a way that would do the song justice. Perry had Simon record the song, along with the rest of her third studio album, No Secrets, at London’s Trident Studios so she could work with famed sound engineer Robin Cable.
And which singer did she meet?
On the same day that Simon was recording ‘You’re So Vain’, Roling Stone singer Mick Jagger happened to stop over at Trident, where his band had recorded part of their previous album Sticky Fingers. Jagger popped his head into the studio while Simon was with none other than Harry Nilsson, recording the backing vocal track for her single.
“I guess it was kind of chance in a way,” she told the UK TV show This Morning in 1995. When Jagger asked the two singers, “Hey, what cha doin’?”, Simon invited him to join them. “Why don’t you come down and sing with us?” The Stones singer gladly obliged.
As it happened, Jagger’s vocals worked so well that Nilsson stepped aside and gave up his part in the recording. “He knew the chemistry was between me and Mick; in terms of the singing, so he sort of bowed out saying. ‘The two of you have a real blend – you should do it yourselves.’” Jagger alone makes it onto the final cut of the track as the only vocalist present besides Simon herself.
She and Jagger then wrote and sang another piece together later that same session, although the song’s recording still has yet to surface in full. Simon has since confirmed that, contrary to popular belief, ‘You’re So Vain’ wasn’t written about Jagger in any way. Although she drew on her experiences with actor Warren Beatty as inspiration for at least one of the verses, something Beatty worked out for himself.
Nevertheless, it’s easy to see why Jagger’s impromptu appearance in the session might have sparked rumours that he’s the subject of ‘You’re So Vain’. He chose not to be credited as a vocalist on the song, probably fearing that people would think the song was about him. Instead, once the story got out that he was involved in the recording, his initial decision to keep it a secret only added fuel to the fire. Son of a gun.
