Music Friday: Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain' Is Back in Spotlight After 52 Years

Welcome to Music Friday when we unravel the mysteries behind famous songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we're bending the rules a bit to visit Carly Simon's 1972 hit, "You're So Vain," the most popular song ever to use the phrase "total eclipse of the sun."

This is a particularly timely subject because on Monday, April 8, a rare total eclipse — and the resulting "Diamond Ring Effect" — will be visible to curious sky gazers on a long, bending path that starts at the Texas/Mexico border and exits in the Maritime provinces of Canada. The next total eclipse to span North America will take place in 2045.

In the famous line from Simon's chart topper, she sings, "Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga / And your horse naturally won / Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia / To see the total eclipse of the sun."

On Monday, at exactly 4:39 pm Atlantic Daylight Time, viewers in Nova Scotia will see the extraordinary celestial display mentioned in the song. The “Diamond Ring Effect” occurs when the moon completely masks out the sun during a total solar eclipse.

Due to the rugged lunar landscape, the black outline of the moon is not smooth. Tiny beads of sunlight can still shine through in some places and not in others as the moon slowly grazes past the sun. These are called Baily’s Beads. When only one dazzling “bead” remains, momentarily, the view of the eclipse resembles a diamond ring. The ring’s glow is produced by the sun’s corona remaining dimly visible around the lunar silhouette. This phenomenon was first explained by Francis Baily in 1836.

The Diamond Ring Effect will actually happen twice on April 8. The first time will occur in the moment just before the total eclipse, and the second will occur just after the total eclipse.

Now, back to the song…

Historically speaking, Simon's reference to Nova Scotia's total eclipse seems plausible. That Canadian province did, in fact, experience a total eclipse on March 7, 1970. Simon wrote the song in 1971 and released it in November of 1972. It appears on her third studio album, No Secrets.

For 52 years, fans and music critics have wondered out loud about the identity of Simon's vain character. Was it Warren Beatty or James Taylor or Kris Kristofferson or Mick Jagger or Jack Nicholson or Cat Stevens?

In 1974, she told Modern Hi-Fi and Music: "That song is about a lot of people. I mean I can think of a lot of people. The actual examples that I've used in the song are from my imagination, but the stimulus is directly from a couple of different sources. It's not just about one particular person."

In 2012, Simon revealed to variety.com the inspiration behind the guy wearing the apricot-colored scarf in the first verse.

“In the case of ‘You’re So Vain’ I had the chorus: ‘You’re so vain/You probably think this song is about you.’ I had that written on a piece of paper a year before I got the rest of the song. I thought, ‘that’s kind of funny, it’s sort of a nice twist’ so I put it down in my notebook," she said.

"And then about a year later I was at a party at my sister’s apartment and a man walked into the party with a big long scarf and he looked at the mirror, which was right as you entered the front door, and he whisked his scarf around his neck as he saw himself and he tilted his hat slightly to the left. I thought, ‘Wow, he’s really vain…'"

Simon offered more details about the second verse while promoting her memoir Boys in the Trees in 2015. That's when she confirmed that the guy who "gave away the things he loved" was Beatty.

"Warren thinks the whole thing is about him," she said.

The guy in the third verse with the racehorses, LearJet and interest in the solar eclipse has yet to be identified conclusively. She offered a clue in her 2010 remake of "You're So Vain," where she whispers the name "David."

Some have concluded that it must be record executive David Geffen, who has owned racehorses. Simon pushed back in an email to Showbiz 411, saying that she had yet to meet Geffen when she wrote the song in 1971. On his radio show, Howard Stern claimed that Simon told him the identity of the mystery person, and it was definitely not Geffen.

So the intrigue will linger a bit longer. Simon celebrated her 80th birthday in June of 2023. Beatty is 87 and Geffen is 81.

Trivia: Jagger sings the memorable ("Don't you? Don't You?") backing vocals on the original track. He is uncredited on the album jacket.

Please check out the video of Simon's spectacular live performance of "You're So Vain." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

"You're So Vain"
Written and performed by Carly Simon.

Son of a gun

You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror, as you watched yourself gavotte

And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (you're so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive
Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair and that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was me

I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (you're so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?

I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (you're so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your horse naturally won
Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well, you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not
You're with some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
Wife of a close friend and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you now?

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you

Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com / Carly Simon.

Birthstone Feature: 'Napoleon Diamond Necklace' Is Now an American Treasure

In honor of April’s official birthstone, we shine our spotlight today on a scintillating and spectacular item from the Smithsonian National Gem Collection. Gifted to Empress Marie Louise by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1811 to celebrate the birth of their son, Napoleon II, the "Napoleon Diamond Necklace" is now an American treasure.

Before taking residence in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals in Washington, DC, the 234-diamond, 260-carat neckpiece was owned for a very short time by American businesswoman and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post.

The necklace, which was designed by Etienne Nitôt and Sons of Paris, consists of an inner circle made up of 28 old mine-cut diamonds, suspending a fringe of nine “pendeloques” (five pear shapes alternating with four ovals) and 10 briolettes.

Mounted above each pear shape is a small round brilliant diamond, while the four ovals are attached to motifs decorated with 23 smaller diamonds. Each of the 10 briolette mountings is accented with 12 rose-cut diamonds. The largest single diamond in the piece weighs approximately 10.4 carats.

According to the Smithsonian, when Marie Louise died in 1847, the necklace was given to her sister-in-law, Archduchess Sophie of Austria. The necklace was bequeathed in 1872 to the Archduchess’ son, Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. The necklace remained in the Austrian royal family until 1948, when Archduke Ludwig’s grandson, Prince Franz Joseph of Liechtenstein, sold it to a French collector who, in turn, sold it to Harry Winston, Inc., in 1960.

Post, the heiress to the Post cereal fortune and a big fan of Napoleonic jewelry, was one of the richest women in the world when she acquired the necklace — in its original case — from Winston that same year. In 1962, she donated it to the Smithsonian Institution.

Post was not only famous for her business acumen and acts of philanthropy, she was also the original owner of Mar-a-Lago, which she built in Palm Beach, FL, between 1924 and 1927. Post died in 1973 at the age of 86. Former president Donald J. Trump acquired the 126-room, 62,500-square-foot mansion in 1985.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Smithsonian/Chip Clark and digitally enhanced by SquareMoose.

Texas Rangers' 2023 World Series Championship Ring Features Reversible Face

The face of the Texas Rangers' 2023 World Series Championship ring is removable and reversible. Players and coaches learned during a team dinner on Friday night that the face of the ring could be spun off and flipped to reveal an alternate design choice.

The first option features the Rangers "T" logo rendered in white diamonds and accented with rubies against a ground of blue sapphires. The alternate design has the "T" logo rendered in rubies and accented with white diamonds against a white "baseball" background.

Affixed to the back of the removable face is a piece of leather from a baseball that was used during the World Series.

With the face removed, one can see a hidden message titled "11-0 ROAD DOMINANCE," with the letters in the word ROAD spelled out in the logo font of the teams the Rangers beat as the away team to capture the franchise's first title. They included Tampa Bay (R)ays, Baltimore (O)rioles, Houston (A)stros, Arizona (D)iamondbacks.

The unique rings, designed in collaboration with Jason of Beverly Hills, were presented to players and coaches on Saturday during a special on-field ceremony before the game with the Chicago Cubs at Globe Life Field.

"There was a lot of pressure when designing this ring, not just because it was a first for the Rangers, but because it is also our very first World Series Ring," said Jason Arasheben, CEO of the jewelry company. "With this delivery, Jason of Beverly Hills will have designed championship rings for the 'Big Four' major professional sports leagues in North America."

In addition to the ring's neat mechanical components, the precious stones in the design symbolically tell the story of the championship season and other franchise milestones.

For instance, the 103 blue sapphires on the face of one design signify the total number of wins in 2023 (regular and postseason), while the 23 red rubies outlining the "T" on that design represent the year the Rangers won the World Series (2023).

The 49 rubies used to render the "T" on the alternate face equals the number of players who held a spot on the active roster in 2023.

Exactly 52 points of white diamonds are utilized to spell "CHAMPIONS" on the face of the ring, and that number honors the Rangers' first World Championship during its 52-year history.

One side of the ring has the catchphrase "Went and Took It" along with a bezel-set diamond overlaying a rendering of the World Series trophy. That single gem also represents the franchise's first championship. The diamond measures exactly 3mm, and that aligns with the the number of American League championships won by the franchise.

The other side of the ring shows the player's name and number. The three diamonds set horizontally under the player's name reflect the team's three pillars of baseball: "Compete with passion, be a good teammate, and dominate the fundamentals."

The 72 points of diamonds on the border of the bezel represent the year the Rangers moved from Washington, DC, to Arlington, TX (1972). And the 30 stones on the inner bezel represent the 30 home runs the team hit during the postseason.

The 2.33 carats of white diamonds used to adorn the side of the ring represent the 233 home runs the club slugged during the regular season.

Around the ring's bezel is an architectural design element that looks like the rafters at Globe Life Field. Inside the shank of the ring is an engraving of the player's signature, as well as the postseason series records and the clubhouse motto, "AS ONE."

Please check out the short video by Jason of Beverly Hills here…

Credits: Screen capture composite via Instagram / jasonofbeverlyhills. Ring images courtesy of Texas Rangers.