Who is "You're So Vain" About?

Rolling Stone - 1973
RS: Some people think "You're So Vain" is about James.
Carly: No, it's definitely not about James, although James suspected that it might be about him because he's very vain. No, he isn't, but he had the unfortunate experience of taking a jet up to Nova Scotia after I’d written the song. He was saved by the fact that it wasn’t a Lear.
RS: You mentioned the "contest" going on about who it's about. What would be the clearest statement you would want to make on who the song was about?
Carly: The contest is run by this man in Los Angeles named Winkler, and he had his listeners call in to cast their ballot as to who they thought the song was about. Kris Kristofferson is leading.
A lot of people think it's about Mick Jagger and that I have fooled him into actually singing on it, that I pulled that ruse. And some of the people think it's about James. But I can't possibly tell who it's about because it wouldn't be fair.
The Washington Post - 1983
WP: Who was ‘You’re So Vain about? Mick Jagger?
Carly: No.
WP: Warren Beatty?
Carly: It certainly sounds like it was about Warren Beatty. He certainly thought it was about him - he called me and said thanks for the song….
WP: You had gone with him?
Carly: Hasn’t everybody?
WP: No.
Carly: That only means you haven’t met him, though at the time I met him he was still relatively undiscovered as a Don Juan. I felt I was one among thousands at that point – it hadn’t reached, you know, the populations of small countries….
This Morning - 1995
Mark McEwen: How did you get Mick Jagger to sing on You're So Vain?
Carly: I guess it was kind of chance in a way. I was in London, it was 1972 and he happened to call at the studio while I was doing the background vocals with Harry Nilsson. Mick said "Hey, what cha doin'?" and I said "We're doing some backup vocals on a song of mine....why don't you come down and sing with us?"
So Mick and Harry and I stood around the mike singing you're so vain and Harry was such a gentleman - he knew the chemistry was between me and Mick; in terms of the singing, so he sort of bowed out saying "The two of you have a real blend - you should do it yourselves."
And that's how it happened.
MM: So, who is You're So Vain about?
Carly: I don't know.
MM: We've heard it was Warren Beatty. It was Mick Jagger. But you've never really said who it was.
Carly: Yeah.
Pure Oxygen - 2000
PO: Warren Beatty or Mick Jagger?
Carly: Neither
PO: You're kidding me?
Carly: I may be kidding you.
PO: You won't tell?
Carly: No, I won't tell.....well, it's certainly not, not about Warren.
Sunday Morning - 2001
Rita Braver: Everyone thinks You're So Vain is about Mick Jagger.
Carly: Oh, they don't really think that.
RB: Yes - they do.
Carly: Okay.
RB: Is it?
Carly: Oh, no, no, no.
RB: And then I read it might be about Warren Beatty?
Carly: Oh, you know, don't listen to what other people tell you.
RB: Well, do you want to solve that mystery for me?
Carly: You know, I could never really solve it because if I did, then no one would have anything to talk to me about.

CNN - People In The News - 2004
Paula Zahn : Long ago, you once admitted that it could potentially be a composite of a number of men that were dear to you in your life. Whether that be Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty or maybe even a little bit of James Taylor in there?
Carly: Well, I guess for those who are interested in clues - the name of the person it was about had an "E" in it.
PZ: Oh, well thank you...that's very helpful Carly. That could be Mick, Warren or James. We still have the same three in the pot.
Carly: Maybe I could disclose another letter. OK, it also has an "A".
PZ: (Laughter) Ok, we'll be asking you about this for the next thirty years.
Carly: Well listen, two vowels ain't bad!
USA Today - June, 2005
"It's about Mark Felt!" Simon, 59, joked by phone Wednesday from her home in Martha's Vineyard, referring to the former FBI official who has said he was Deep Throat. You're So Vain was a No. 1 hit in January 1973, six months after the Watergate break-in that led to President Nixon's downfall.
But unlike the Watergate principals, Simon says she'll never reveal the answer, not even when she or the song's subject dies. "I don't see why I ever would. What would it advance? I wrote that song in the days when people kept confidences to themselves, whereas now, people expose them so easily and readily for the benefit of their next movie sale."
She finds it "bizarre" that fans are still speculating about her lyrics three decades later. "If people knew who it was to begin with, it might not have become a hit."