Member-only story
Happy Birthday, Carly Simon!
One of my earliest memories is being around 7 years old and singing along to Carly Simon’s timeless mega-hit “You’re So Vain.” I played the 45 record constantly (show of hands from everyone who is old enough to remember 45s!), blissfully unaware of the provocative questions that still linger today. I didn’t even understand most of the lyrics but I knew enough to know that I loved the poetry of I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee years before I ever had my first cup.
I don’t have a favorite Carly song. It’s impossible to choose just one. I do tend to gravitate to the lesser known ones, I’ve noticed. Many have become mantras for me at different times of my life, and never more so than when our kids were born.
As premature newborn twins, our babies spent a few weeks in the NICU. During that time, we were told to talk to them, sing to them, anything to get them acquainted with our voices and so they could sense we were there. My husband, the consummate Beatles fan, sang George Harrison’s entire catalogue (The Quiet Beatle had died during our NICU days) and I sang Carly Simon. “Julie Through the Glass” (“Julie through the glass, just born a day ago/ and who knows where you’ve been/ and where you’re gonna go”) and “Libby” (“If all our flights are grounded/ Libby, we’ll go to Paris/ dance along the boulevards and have no one to embarrass ….”) were both on heavy…
