This weekend I was watching "Hangin' With..." on VH1 Classic. This week's guest was Carly Simon. She was promoting her latest album, Into White, a collection of mostly covers and a few original songs. This show really took me back. I hadn't listened to Carly Simon in a long time, and I was reminded of how much I love her music. I discovered Carly Simon when I was in high school. I was the stage manager for the Baltimore Young Dancers' Theatre, and one of their pieces was performed to Carly Simon's "Boys in the Trees." At the age of 16, those lyrics stuck with me:
"I'm home again in my old narrow bed
Where I grew tall and my feet hung over the end
The low beam room with the window looking out
On the soft summer garden
Where the boys grew in the trees
Here I grew guilty
And no one was at fault
Frightened by the power
In every innocent thought
And the silent understanding passing down
From daughter to daughter
Let the boys grow in the trees"
Boys in the Trees is my favorite Carly Simon album, and reminds me so much of my teenage years. One song, "De Bat (Fly in Me Face)" is a whole lot of fun. I used to love singing this song, even though I had no idea what on earth I was singing about:
"Well I come home from a party
And I'm feelin' a little spaced
And I walk on in the kitchen and
A bat fly in me face
Well de bat come down the chimney
You see he wait in the fireplace
When he hear that I'm getting a little snack
De bat fly in me face"
This song smacks of vulnerability now, and yet it has such a fun party beat!
And Carly's more well-known songs have resonated with me as well. How about "Anticipation?"
"We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasing after some finer day"
Or what about "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," about bad relationships?
"My father sits at night with no lights on
His cigarette glows in the dark
The living room is still
I walk by, no remark
I tiptoe past the master bedroom where
My mother reads her magazines
I hear her call sweet dreams
But I forgot how to dream
But you say it's time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me
Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be
You want to marry me, we'll marry"
Another sad song of unhappy relationships is "Coming Around Again":
Baby sneezes
Mommy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
But so bewildering
I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the game
It's coming around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart"
This song breaks my heart whenever I hear it...
But they're not all sad. Take "Haven't Got Time for the Pain":
"All those crazy nights
When I cried myself to sleep
Now melodrama never makes me weep anymore
'Cause I haven't got time for the pain
I haven't got room for the pain
I haven't the need for the pain
Not since I've known you"
And then, of course, there's one of Carly Simon's most famous songs, "You're So Vain." Is is about Mick Jagger? James Taylor? Warren Beatty? She'll never tell, but you can judge for yourself by reading all the evidence on the Carly Simon website. (That's where I found the picture above, too.)
Do you have a favorite Carly Simon song?
"I'm home again in my old narrow bed
Where I grew tall and my feet hung over the end
The low beam room with the window looking out
On the soft summer garden
Where the boys grew in the trees
Here I grew guilty
And no one was at fault
Frightened by the power
In every innocent thought
And the silent understanding passing down
From daughter to daughter
Let the boys grow in the trees"
Boys in the Trees is my favorite Carly Simon album, and reminds me so much of my teenage years. One song, "De Bat (Fly in Me Face)" is a whole lot of fun. I used to love singing this song, even though I had no idea what on earth I was singing about:
"Well I come home from a party
And I'm feelin' a little spaced
And I walk on in the kitchen and
A bat fly in me face
Well de bat come down the chimney
You see he wait in the fireplace
When he hear that I'm getting a little snack
De bat fly in me face"
This song smacks of vulnerability now, and yet it has such a fun party beat!
And Carly's more well-known songs have resonated with me as well. How about "Anticipation?"
"We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasing after some finer day"
Or what about "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," about bad relationships?
"My father sits at night with no lights on
His cigarette glows in the dark
The living room is still
I walk by, no remark
I tiptoe past the master bedroom where
My mother reads her magazines
I hear her call sweet dreams
But I forgot how to dream
But you say it's time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me
Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be
You want to marry me, we'll marry"
Another sad song of unhappy relationships is "Coming Around Again":
Baby sneezes
Mommy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
But so bewildering
I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the game
It's coming around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart"
This song breaks my heart whenever I hear it...
But they're not all sad. Take "Haven't Got Time for the Pain":
"All those crazy nights
When I cried myself to sleep
Now melodrama never makes me weep anymore
'Cause I haven't got time for the pain
I haven't got room for the pain
I haven't the need for the pain
Not since I've known you"
And then, of course, there's one of Carly Simon's most famous songs, "You're So Vain." Is is about Mick Jagger? James Taylor? Warren Beatty? She'll never tell, but you can judge for yourself by reading all the evidence on the Carly Simon website. (That's where I found the picture above, too.)
Do you have a favorite Carly Simon song?
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