Carly Simon admits 'You're So Vain' is partly about Warren Beatty

After more than four decades, Grammy Award-winning singer Carly Simon finally has revealed which former lover is the much-rumored subject of her 1972 No. 1 hit "You're So Vain." Or at least she's revealed one of whom she says are three subjects.

In an interview with People magazine posted Wednesday, Simon, 70, said, "I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren," referring to Oscar-winning actor-filmmaker Warren Beatty, 78, then a famed womanizer whose movies at the time included "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) and "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (1971). However, Simon added, paraphrasing one of the song's lyrics, "Warren thinks the whole thing is about him!"

Simon, whose memoir "Boys in the Trees" is scheduled for publication on Tuesday, said the remaining verses refer to two other men whom she declined to name. Asked if she planned to identify them, Simon replied, "I don't think so, at least until they know it's about them." Is that a possibility? "Probably, if we were sitting over at dinner and I said: 'Remember that time you walked into the party and . . .?' "

She added: "I don't know if I'll do it. I never thought I would admit that it was more than one person!" Other lovers, People said, included actor Jack Nicholson and singer-songwriters Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson and Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam. Jagger sang backup vocals on the recording.

The second verse includes the lyrics: "You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive / Well you said that we made such a pretty pair, and that you would never leave / But you gave away the things you loved, and one of them was me / I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee . . . "

Simon said she was surprised at the public's continued interest in the song's mystique. "Why do they want to know?" she wondered. "It's so crazy!"

A representative for Beatty did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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