Carly Simon

Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author.

Quotes

…I would say it's not not about Warren Beatty. But I can't understand why there's been such intense interest about this over the years and I don't really want to play into that. To me, it's not an issue. It's a kind of a fun riddle.
- On her song “You’re So Vain” in “Carly Simon: 'I'm Constantly Reemerging In My Life'” in NPR (2015 Nov 21)

You know, that's so much a part of life, being able to embrace the broken heart, not just cast it off as having no meaning or trying to get rid of it. I think in the book gives a very good journey through the way I handled things that were desperately frightening for me.
- On her song “Coming Around Again” in “Carly Simon: 'I'm Constantly Reemerging In My Life'” in NPR (2015 Nov 21)

I grew up with lots of mystery in my house…I was always feeling on shaky ground when I was growing up. I didn’t know what was what, and that led me to feel very insecure.
- On the family secrets that were kept from Simon during her childhood in “A revealing interview with Carly Simon at her home in Martha’s Vineyard about her new book, ‘Boys in the Trees’” (2015 Nov 24)

I think of that time a lot…It’s part of my blood, my bones, all the liquid in my body. I’ve just taken him in so he’s in my core.
- Reflecting on the Martha’s Vineyard home that Simon once shared with James Taylor during the 1970s that she still owns in “A revealing interview with Carly Simon at her home in Martha’s Vineyard about her new book, ‘Boys in the Trees’” (2015 Nov 24)

I pretended I was Cat Stevens. I started out with very Cat Stevensy chords, very abrupt. I was so stuck in the moment of being fearful so as a lesson to myself I said: ‘but we can never know about the days to come’. I didn’t know when the door-bell was going to ring. I liked that. It was all of a sudden a quarter to eight and I had written the whole song.
- On her song “Anticipation” in “Carly Simon explains ‘Anticipation’ was about Cat Stevens” in Music-News.com (31 Oct 2016)

Fear came in so much in my life that it did everything but completely stop me. When I was a little girl, I so wanted to be sociable, but I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to speak a sentence because I had such a bad stammer...
- On what Simon’s childhood in “Tales From the Trees: An Interview With Carly Simon” in PopMatters (2016 Nov 20)

Music brought me closer to the idea of God…Music gave me the energy to revise, revive myself; renew, rebirth myself. It was a palliative, a relief.
- On what Simon wrote regarding music in Boys in the Trees (as stated in “Tales From the Trees: An Interview With Carly Simon” in PopMatters; 2016 Nov 20)

The time I enjoy music most is when it’s not a performance. It’s just trading instrumentals and finding that part in the song that you feel best singing.
- On how much she loves performing music with her family in “Carly Simon on Trolling Trump With ‘You’re So Vain,’ Lost Mick Jagger Duet” in Rolling Stone (29 Nov 2016)