What Happens In The Studio, Stays In The Studio
Carly Simon gave us one of music’s greatest secrets with her 1972 smash hit “You’re So Vain,” a song about a self absorbed lover that for years was rumored to be about everyone from Jimmy Iovine to Warren Beatty (spoiler: it was Warren Beatty) and featuring a cameo from friend and rock legend Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones.
Always a woman to play her hand close to the vest, Carly’s 2015 memoir Boys In the Trees shed light on a few of the more private moments of her life, but also saw the 72 year old songstress double back to zero in on Mick Jagger again with the revelation that the two were involved – musically, that is! This revelation answered the decades old question as to whether or not Carly and Mick collaborated on more music together and if so, why it was never released.
The answer? Yes, and after 45 years it’s finally been found!
Mick Jagger and Carly Simon's lost duet found after 45 years! #MickJagger #CarlySimon #TheRollingStones pic.twitter.com/RNgBEDyWTS
— BANG Showbiz (@BANGShowbiz) August 23, 2018
Shortly after recording “You’re So Vain,” Simon and Jagger teamed up for another song – a proper duet this time – and according to Carly the lyrics included the line, “Funny, funny, funny, funny, funny/ How love can make you cry,” but remarkably enough, this mystery project between the two never turned into anything and as a matter of fact, spent over 45 years lost.
That is, until Rolling Stones fan Matt Lee stumbled across the tape. The song, never heard by the public, is rumored to be titled “Fragile” and according to Lee lines up with the lyrics Carly Simon mentioned in her 2016 Rolling Stone interview, with the exception of the word “change” exchanged for “cry.”
As to the question of why she and Mick never worked together after that studio session, Carly chalks it up to the ‘great electricity’ between them making her nervous and drawing closer to her then husband, singer-songwriter James Taylor out of fear of possibly pursuing something she shouldn’t have with Mick. We can only imagine how incredible a Carly Simon/Mick Jagger collaboration sounds – here’s hoping that someone at Warner Brothers is able to get it to Carly sometime soon, and the world gets to hear it!