If you were a regular follower of American Top 40, but weren't following the charts via Billboard magazine back in 1972, imagine your surprise come the first regular show of 1973.
The last regular countdown came the week of December 16, 1972 when Billy Paul's "Me And Mrs. Jones" moved into the No. 1 spot. For the next two weeks, AT40 ran their Top 80 countdown in two parts.
And so after the Christmas and New Year's celebrations were over, the countdown started up again. And as we got to No. 3 in the countdown, there was Billy Paul free-falling out of the top spot after three weeks on top.
So one would figure that Gilbert O'Sullivan just jumped to No. 1 with his latest single, "Clair," a great thing considering his "Alone Again (Naturally)" was the No. 2 song in the year-end countdown after that spent six weeks at the top in the previous summer.
But when Casey announced the song was at No. 2 and played it, the mystery began -- If it's not "Clair" or any other song that was near the top of the chart on December 16, what was No. 1.
Then Casey teased us by announcing that with this artist hitting No. 1, she helped to make it two husband-and-wife solo acts to hit No. 1 in music history with Eddie Fisher (three No. 1s in the pre-rock 'n roll era) and Debbie Reynolds ("Tammy" in 1957) being the first couple to do so.
So who was the second, Casey?
He begins by saying that last year (it was boo-boo considering they were recording this AT40 in the final days of 1972 and forgot this was for the first weekend of '73), her husband hit No. 1 with "You've Got A Friend." That was James Taylor. Well, of course, the massive social detailing of every single relationship these days didn't equate to finding out your "relationship" news of 1972 and who got married unless the mainstream news had it or it was in your newspapers. You do remember when newspapers had, like, everything in them?
And suddenly you realized -- that's Carly Simon, who just debuted at No. 37 on December 16, 1972 with "You're So Vain." And, again, unless you followed the charts religiously week in and week out by subscribing to Billboard, this was the biggest surprise. During the two weeks AT40 did its year-end countdown of '72, "You're So Vain" leaped from No. 37 to No. 9 to No. 4 to No. 1 for January 6, 1973, spending three weeks at the top.
Of course, the bigger deal with the song has always been the "mystery person" ... who the heck is she singing about. There are many theories, many ideas, everyone from Mick Jagger (who is the backup singer on this record) to David Bowie to David Cassidy to even her husband at the time. But in at least a couple of interviews, Simon herself has said the mystery man is really three mystery men who had a part of her life.
And in August 2003, that identity was put up -- believe it or not -- for auction! The winning bid would go toward the Martha's Vineyard Possible Dreams charity. The winner of that auction turned out to be NBC president and Simon friend Dick Ebersol, who got a private show from Simon as part of the winning bid and then after the show, she whispered the identity of the song that has driven people crazy since the record first came out in 1972. However, Ebersol was asked as part of the auction win to keep that identity secret.
However, Simon did allow Ebersol to reveal three letters that involves the name of the person or "persons" involved. And so Ebersol revealed the letters: E, A and R.
That left three suspects: One was actor Warren Beatty, who had a relationship with Simon in the late 1960s. Beatty reportedly was so convinced that he was the subject of the song, he called Simon to thank her personally. The second was her boyfriend in the mid-1960s when she was trying to make it in the music business, a fellow musician named Danny Armstrong (born Daniel Kent Armstrong). He was 10 years older than him, but they connected in many personal ways. One day, though, she pushed him aside reportedly to go live on her own and shunned, he moved to Los Angeles. She regretted the decision and it was said that she called Armstrong numerous times without him answering back. So she confronted him personally in L.A. She admitted to a writer that she had unrequited love for Armstrong for years even if his personality was "cocky" and "boastful." He is the guy who, in the lyrics of the song, "walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht."
The third person, according to sources, has been rumored to be Simon's record label head, David Geffen (born David Lawrence Geffen). Simon was upset with Geffen because there were rumors that he favored her label mate, Joni Mitchell, over her when it came to publicizing her work. But while it may be obvious to some that it may be Geffen, Simon and her second ex-husband, Jim Hart, both denied it, though the name "David" is heard whispered on the record. However, there's never been denying that there was a "David" involved.
And so unless you bug the heck out of Dick Ebersol or Howard Stern or even Taylor Swift, who also reportedly know the identities now of the mystery me, the identities more than likely go with Simon to the grave with her.
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