0:00:04 > 0:00:07In 1972, American singer songwriter Carly Simon
0:00:07 > 0:00:11recorded her most famous album in London.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Well, about the No Secrets album,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17as a piece of work that I've done in this lifetime, it's pretty good.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21No Secrets was to become a platinum-selling global hit.
0:00:21 > 0:00:27It is a classic album. There's a sheen, there's a kind of glossiness.
0:00:27 > 0:00:28The players are fantastic.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31# You're so vain... #
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Its chart-topping single, You're So Vain,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37is celebrated by stars to this day like Taylor Swift.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39# You're so vain... #
0:00:39 > 0:00:43That is the most direct way anyone has ever addressed a break-up.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46It's amazing.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51# I bet you think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?
0:00:51 > 0:00:53# Don't you...? #
0:00:54 > 0:00:57The album defined the era it was written in.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03Carly Simon becomes a voice for the feminist movement and it's that
0:01:03 > 0:01:08voice that comes through crystal clear in songs like You're So Vain.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10# And that you would never leave... #
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Her songs are intimate and autobiographical,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17drawing on relationships with her parents, friends and lovers.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23It's a holistic experience, writing, living, breathing and singing.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25# Some of those secrets of yours... #
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Some songs were inspired by her then partner,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32the legendary singer-songwriter, James Taylor.
0:01:32 > 0:01:38I mean Carly Simon and James Taylor? You couldn't get better than that.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40# We had no secrets... #
0:01:40 > 0:01:42We'll explore this classic album through
0:01:42 > 0:01:46a revealing interview with Carly Simon herself...
0:01:46 > 0:01:49I was being pushed off a diving board because I was doing
0:01:49 > 0:01:50things that I didn't want to do.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52# Some of those secrets of yours... #
0:01:54 > 0:01:57..and with her collaborators on No Secrets.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00This entire process was absolute magic.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05Every song that she brought to the party was a really good song.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09And we'll hear exclusive extracts from the album's master tapes.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11Of course, as soon as I started mixing it,
0:02:11 > 0:02:16I heard this wonderful sound of Mick Jagger...
0:02:16 > 0:02:18# You're so vain
0:02:19 > 0:02:23# You probably think this song is about you... #
0:02:23 > 0:02:26I got back to New York and I heard You're So Vain in
0:02:26 > 0:02:29a cab and it sounded so bloody good over the radio.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31# Don't you, don't you, don't you now... #
0:03:05 > 0:03:10APPLAUSE
0:03:16 > 0:03:21# My father sits at night with no lights on
0:03:23 > 0:03:29# His cigarette blows in the dark... #
0:03:29 > 0:03:32My father was a classical pianist,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35so I had all these influences and I was open to all of them.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37I thought music was music.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42But then there was also Peggy Lee and Joan Baez and Judy Collins
0:03:42 > 0:03:44and folk singers.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49# I tiptoe past the master bedroom where
0:03:50 > 0:03:56# My mother reads her magazines... #
0:03:58 > 0:04:01You had to write your own material to figure out who you were.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05The songs that I owned were the ones that really came from
0:04:05 > 0:04:07me and came from my writing.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09That's the way I've always heard it should be.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14# Well that's the way I've always heard it to be
0:04:14 > 0:04:17# You want to marry me... #
0:04:19 > 0:04:22I just said to her, "Where did this come from?"
0:04:22 > 0:04:25She said, "I don't know. I just found my muse."
0:04:25 > 0:04:33# I'll never learn to be just me first by myself... #
0:04:37 > 0:04:40People told me that they stopped their cars when they heard
0:04:40 > 0:04:42that song because it was so different.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44It was the song that got me on the radio.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53You know, there's a lot of love and tenderness and warmth and
0:04:53 > 0:04:56vulnerability in Carly's music and, you know,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59that's what music should really be about.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04And then I was in love with the Anticipation. It was a group album.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08I mean, there was so much love between everybody and
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Cat Stevens was around during that time, too,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and he sang backups on a lot of the songs.
0:05:13 > 0:05:19Carly Simon helps to recreate sexuality and romance in
0:05:19 > 0:05:24the 1970s by singing about and modelling an alternative
0:05:24 > 0:05:27which is a relationship, serial monogamy.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32To me, I fell in love every time I slept with a man.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35I thought, well, this is it, this is absolutely it.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40Her many loves are all over the popular culture,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43so that everyone can recite, "Oh, well, there was Cat Stevens,
0:05:43 > 0:05:48"there was Warren Beatty and now there's James Taylor."
0:05:50 > 0:05:53So James' first album, Sweet Baby James,
0:05:53 > 0:05:54had made him a big star.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59Carly and he were soon the most famous couple in rock and roll
0:05:59 > 0:06:01and on the cover of Rolling Stone together.
0:06:01 > 0:06:07And they were together for a whole decade and had two children together.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11But for now, James stayed in America while Carly recorded her new
0:06:11 > 0:06:13album in London.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17When I was in England making the No Secrets record, sometime
0:06:17 > 0:06:22during the summer, he decided that maybe marriage was a good idea.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Carly Simon, she's in London now recording her third album
0:06:31 > 0:06:34with Richard Perry and it really is the greatest pleasure to be
0:06:34 > 0:06:36- able to say, welcome to Carly Simon. - Thank you.
0:06:36 > 0:06:37How long are you in London, Carly?
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Until the record is finished, which will probably be another two weeks.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45I've been into it now for two, almost three weeks.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51We got very close during the making of the record and have
0:06:51 > 0:06:57remained extremely close to this day, 45 years later.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00What's the difference between working in London and working in
0:07:00 > 0:07:04studios in America? There must be a difference in field, presumably.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08I just like London as a city better than New York as a city.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11And I like...
0:07:11 > 0:07:14I just like to live here better.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17I don't know about the studios, so I thought I'd try and although
0:07:17 > 0:07:20it wasn't totally my decision, Richard Perry wanted to work there.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24Richard pretty much got his way because he's very dominating
0:07:24 > 0:07:26and very good.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30Perry's sensibility was far more commercial than Carly's.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32After all, he produced Barbra Streisand,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36he produced Diana Ross and Art Garfunkel.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40I like his sound, I like the slickness of his sound.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45He was one of the key early '70s producers.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49He just hears something and he lives...
0:07:49 > 0:07:53It's almost as if inside his mind is a radio playing,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55and he knows what a hit sounds like.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00I was there because I was in Carly's band, and she said,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02"I want to bring my band to London,"
0:08:02 > 0:08:03and Richard consented,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07so he tolerated me, and said,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10"OK, we'll give you guys a shot, but no guarantees.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14"I need to make the record I need to make with my guys,
0:08:14 > 0:08:15"and are you cool with that?"
0:08:15 > 0:08:19And he brought very good people in to work with me
0:08:19 > 0:08:20and I was influenced by them.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Klaus Voormann on bass for most of the cuts.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Yes, I mean, the best example is You're So Vain.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37What happened was, when we started the song,
0:08:37 > 0:08:42David played it on the piano and I heard the lyrics.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46# You walked into the party
0:08:46 > 0:08:50# Like you were walking onto a yacht. #
0:08:50 > 0:08:53And I saw the lyrics on a sheet,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57and I was definite that it was about a guy who was very flashy,
0:08:57 > 0:09:01so I thought, "I should be playing something flashy," you know?
0:09:01 > 0:09:02So I...
0:09:02 > 0:09:04PLAYS RIFF
0:09:08 > 0:09:11And then Richard Perry came in - "Oh, yeah, that's great.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12"Let's start the song with that!"
0:09:12 > 0:09:16I said, "Klaus, what did you just play?"
0:09:16 > 0:09:18He says, "What are you talking about?
0:09:18 > 0:09:20"I was just warming up my fingers."
0:09:20 > 0:09:24I said, "Do me a favour and play exactly what you just played."
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Lots of bass players asked me how I was doing this.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32You only can do it if you know how to play a classic guitar,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and I learned classic guitar, and then it's really easy.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41And then as soon as Carly heard it,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45she spontaneously came in with this "son of a gun."
0:09:46 > 0:09:48# Son of a gun. #
0:09:48 > 0:09:52And then when I started mixing it, and had all the tracks open,
0:09:52 > 0:09:53as I do now,
0:09:53 > 0:09:54I found out that there were actually quite
0:09:54 > 0:09:58a few other little fun things that they decided not to use.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Ah.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Prrrrr!
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Pssssst!
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Ccch! Psssst!
0:10:12 > 0:10:13Tt-tt!
0:10:16 > 0:10:22The history of the song is I had a clever little saying in the
0:10:22 > 0:10:26back of my notebook saying, that said, "You're so vain, you probably
0:10:26 > 0:10:29"think this song is about you," and I don't know where that came from.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33I was at a party and a man walked into my apartment
0:10:33 > 0:10:36and he looked at himself in the mirror, his hat was, like,
0:10:36 > 0:10:41tiered over one eye, and he had an apricot scarf, so...
0:10:41 > 0:10:44I wrote "You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht."
0:10:44 > 0:10:49# You walked into the party
0:10:49 > 0:10:53# Like you were walking onto a yacht
0:10:53 > 0:10:58# Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
0:10:58 > 0:11:03# Your scarf, it was apricot. #
0:11:03 > 0:11:06So, I got that far and then I had...
0:11:06 > 0:11:11# And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
0:11:11 > 0:11:13# They'd be your partner and
0:11:13 > 0:11:17# You're so vain
0:11:17 > 0:11:21# You probably think this song is about you
0:11:21 > 0:11:23# You're so vain
0:11:23 > 0:11:25# I'll bet you... #
0:11:25 > 0:11:29I think by about this time in the mix, by the first chorus,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32I knew this was going to be a huge smash.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36I feel it was close to a perfect record.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39You're looking for a different feel on this album from Anticipation.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42- Is that why now you're working with Richard Perry?- Er...
0:11:42 > 0:11:47Not really a different feel as much as an expansion, perhaps,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50of the feel it was on the Anticipation album.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55I didn't really like the direction of the record.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Richard was rock and roll, and I was still being kind of a folk singer.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Timing, the way I felt it, timing was just like a bird.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06A bird'll stop sometimes and slow down
0:12:06 > 0:12:08or a wave - something natural,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12and to be forced to go with bom bom bom bom bom was new to me
0:12:12 > 0:12:15and so I fought it all the way.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22Richard, he could keep his focus for four or five hours
0:12:22 > 0:12:29on a song and keep manipulating the players
0:12:29 > 0:12:32till he got what he wanted.
0:12:32 > 0:12:38It's, er, an emotional thing. You just know when it's right.
0:12:38 > 0:12:45So, whatever I was doing, it wasn't doing it for Richard Perry,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49and he then said,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53"Carly, I'm going to bring Jim Gordon in,"
0:12:53 > 0:12:59and I just was huddled up in the corner of the drum room,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03about this far away, six feet away from him,
0:13:03 > 0:13:08and watched him do his thing.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12I mean, and Jim really got inside the tune.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17He's in like this, playing on the snare drum in the verses.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25But then there's a bit coming up where it drops down quiet,
0:13:25 > 0:13:30and he very sneakily just goes down from...
0:13:30 > 0:13:32He goes to...
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Something where Carly drops down and it goes quiet,
0:13:37 > 0:13:44he found the places to come down and go up and where to drop out.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47It is a classic drum part.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50# Bet you think this song is about you
0:13:50 > 0:13:52# Don't you?
0:13:52 > 0:13:53# Don't you? #
0:13:53 > 0:13:58The only thing that changed was the upbeatness of it,
0:13:58 > 0:14:03the Richard Perry-ness of it, and so the lyrics didn't really get
0:14:03 > 0:14:08any less intrinsic to what I was feeling.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12# You had me several years ago
0:14:12 > 0:14:16# When I was still quite naive
0:14:16 > 0:14:22# Well you said that we made such a pretty pair
0:14:22 > 0:14:25# And that you would never leave
0:14:25 > 0:14:30# But you gave away the things you loved... #
0:14:30 > 0:14:35I had endless numbers of people asking me who it was about.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38I think they were just asking me or Carly,
0:14:38 > 0:14:43and we never talked about it at all and we wouldn't reveal it.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45The answer wasn't as important as the game.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47# I had some dreams
0:14:47 > 0:14:50# They were clouds in my coffee
0:14:50 > 0:14:53# Clouds in my coffee and
0:14:53 > 0:14:55# You're so vain... #
0:14:55 > 0:14:59We know Beatty had something to do with it, and there were
0:14:59 > 0:15:03at least two others, and we can't say for sure who those were.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06It was my publisher who called up and said,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08"People magazine will put you on the cover if you tell
0:15:08 > 0:15:13"who You're So Vain is about, or just give one verse up."
0:15:13 > 0:15:15# Don't you?
0:15:15 > 0:15:17# Don't you...? #
0:15:17 > 0:15:21And so...so I therefore decided to give a little bit away.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Now, that doesn't mean the other two verses aren't also about Warren.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28Just means that the second one is.
0:15:28 > 0:15:34And also the subject about who it was about loved the fact,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38couldn't have been more pleased with the fact.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42# I bet you think this song is about you
0:15:42 > 0:15:43# Don't you?
0:15:43 > 0:15:46# Don't you? #
0:15:47 > 0:15:50If you were sitting in the guitar chair, it was a piece of cake.
0:15:50 > 0:15:56Richard and I synchronised very, very well about what should be done.
0:15:56 > 0:16:02This guitar was the one that I used. It's a 1961, I guess, Gibson ES3 35.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04I said, "All right - I've got an idea.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07You guys can give me some feedback, see if this works."
0:16:24 > 0:16:26# I had some dreams
0:16:26 > 0:16:28# They were clouds in my coffee
0:16:28 > 0:16:30# Clouds in my coffee and... #
0:16:33 > 0:16:38So, I played the solo and Richard said, "That's great. Perfect."
0:16:38 > 0:16:42I said, "OK. Let's do another and we'll clean it up and perfect it."
0:16:42 > 0:16:46He says, "No. No. No, you're done. That was it - one take."
0:16:46 > 0:16:48That's my recollection. Now, Richard may tell you,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52"Oh, no, it was awful - we had him to do it 17 times."
0:16:52 > 0:16:53The wonders of memory!
0:16:53 > 0:16:59My memory of is we spent most of the weekend on that song.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01It was hardly one take.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05I did play with the reverb on it.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10SONG PLAYS
0:17:13 > 0:17:14# I had some dreams
0:17:14 > 0:17:17# They were clouds in my coffee... #
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Great solo, just a great solo.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Richard really believed in the record so completely
0:17:22 > 0:17:25and he made me do the vocal 100 times.
0:17:25 > 0:17:30I was only 27 at the time, so I had a lot more energy then.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32For some reason!
0:17:32 > 0:17:36It was Mick Jagger who said to me, you know,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39"You're really a rock and roll singer! Forget this folk stuff."
0:17:39 > 0:17:42That wasn't my best Mick Jagger - I can do a really good one.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45I had met Mick Jagger at a party.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48No, the song is not about him.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52So he came by the studio, and Mick and I went on to make history.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56And of course, as soon as I started mixing it,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59I heard this wonderful sound of Mick Jagger.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03# You're so vain. #
0:18:05 > 0:18:10TWO DISTINCT VOICES
0:18:10 > 0:18:14# I bet you think this song is about you
0:18:14 > 0:18:16# Don't you?
0:18:16 > 0:18:18# Don't you? #
0:18:18 > 0:18:21At one point, I remember we were leaning over and looking into
0:18:21 > 0:18:24the shine of the black Yamaha piano,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28and it was Narcissus and Goldmund looking into the pond together
0:18:28 > 0:18:31at themselves and seeing themselves in the other,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35and it was very...it was very sexy.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39She was so turned on after they finished putting
0:18:39 > 0:18:44the backgrounds on that she asked me if she could go out and do
0:18:44 > 0:18:49a new lead vocal track, to which I certainly said yes.
0:18:49 > 0:18:54She did it in one take, and that was the take that we used on the record.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00So this is a verse which I haven't ever sung,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02and I'm going to try to sing it for the first time.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05I wrote it on a pad a while ago but it never made it into the song,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07so...
0:19:07 > 0:19:09# A friend of yours
0:19:09 > 0:19:11# Revealed to me
0:19:11 > 0:19:15# That you loved me all the time
0:19:17 > 0:19:20# Kept it secret from your wives
0:19:20 > 0:19:24# You believed it was no crime
0:19:26 > 0:19:30# You called me once...
0:19:30 > 0:19:34# You called me once to ask me things
0:19:34 > 0:19:39# I couldn't quite divine
0:19:39 > 0:19:43# Maybe that's why I have tried to dismiss you
0:19:43 > 0:19:46# Tried to dismiss you and
0:19:46 > 0:19:49# You're so vain. #
0:19:51 > 0:19:56# Well I hear you went to Saratoga
0:19:56 > 0:19:59# And your horse naturally won. #
0:19:59 > 0:20:02When I got back to New York and I heard You're So Vain
0:20:02 > 0:20:05in a cab the first day that I was back,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09and it sounded so bloody good over the radio, and I thought,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11"No matter what the other songs sound like,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"I don't mind cos this one turned out so well."
0:20:14 > 0:20:18# And when you're not you're with... #
0:20:18 > 0:20:21I can remember when I was in college,
0:20:21 > 0:20:23that everybody was singing that song.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27# You're so vain. #
0:20:27 > 0:20:30So much of music until that point
0:20:30 > 0:20:34from a woman's point of view was about, this man left me,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38I'm so unhappy, I'm so miserable, I'm a victim.
0:20:40 > 0:20:46It's a defining song of that moment
0:20:46 > 0:20:49in pop music, the early '70s.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51For Carly, too,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55she said that it seemed like her whole musical life had led to
0:20:55 > 0:20:57that vocal performance,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01including her early love of the great folk singer Odetta.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06I always loved Odetta. I wanted to be like her.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10# The songs that show no pain
0:21:12 > 0:21:20# I can't hear the echo of my footsteps. #
0:21:20 > 0:21:24I just knew that she had this wonderful, low, sexy,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27raunchy, husky range.
0:21:35 > 0:21:41And I used to go around and sing, # I don't want no bald-headed woman
0:21:41 > 0:21:43# Oh she too mean, Lord
0:21:43 > 0:21:46# Lordy, she too mean. #
0:21:46 > 0:21:54A lot of white woman singers talk about how they would study Odetta's voice.
0:21:54 > 0:22:00It's not just an attempt to mimic her sound as performers, but also
0:22:00 > 0:22:03the soul of her sound.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08She could resonate with black freedom fighters such as
0:22:08 > 0:22:13Martin Luther King, who named her the queen of American folk music.
0:22:13 > 0:22:20You're So Vain has the strong tones of female empowerment.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25And it's those tones that I think come closer to approximating
0:22:25 > 0:22:28the spirit of Odetta's music.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33And I felt my womanhood in a way that I hadn't felt it before,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36sort of as if I was, you know,
0:22:36 > 0:22:41I was kind of coming out into...into a time that I was respected.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43I wasn't just being told what to do.
0:22:43 > 0:22:50Carly Simon becomes a voice that is inspiring young women activists.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53I put on my boots and became part of the feminist movement.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01This was the really early '70s... when, first of all,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05the female artists were not at all treated like the male artists.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Carly was a trendsetter.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Her songs, everything she did brought more attention to women in
0:23:12 > 0:23:13the right way.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20I think it is. It is a classic album.
0:23:20 > 0:23:26And just the blend of moods, the mix, it's an eclectic record.
0:23:30 > 0:23:36# At night in bed I heard God whisper lullabies
0:23:37 > 0:23:44# While Daddy next door whistled whisky tunes... #
0:23:44 > 0:23:48This represented a shift for me in the mixing of the album,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52when this one came up. Because I wasn't expecting anything like this,
0:23:52 > 0:23:57and it's such an explosive song. It's amazing.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00- Here we are.- # Embrace me
0:24:00 > 0:24:05# Child, you're a child of mine
0:24:05 > 0:24:11# And I'm leaving everything I am to you... #
0:24:11 > 0:24:15There was a period of time for about two months that I talked
0:24:15 > 0:24:17myself into a writer's block.
0:24:17 > 0:24:24And I said to my friend Jimmy Ryan, I said, "Help me sign a document
0:24:24 > 0:24:28"that promises you that I will turn out a song by the end of this week.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32"No matter what it is, no matter if it makes sense."
0:24:32 > 0:24:35And so I signed the document, he wrote it out, I signed it.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43I leaned on him. For emotional support, for musical support.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46I would do my absolute best to, you know,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48to be her rock and say, "It's going to be OK, I'm going to be
0:24:48 > 0:24:51"standing right there with you, don't worry about a thing.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54"Everybody here loves you." And it was that kind of thing.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56We were just really, really good friends.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00So, I played my 12-string guitar and just played the harmonics high.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02And I came out with the first words I thought of,
0:25:02 > 0:25:07which are, "At night in bed I heard God whisper lullabies."
0:25:07 > 0:25:12# At night in bed I heard God whisper lullabies... #
0:25:14 > 0:25:17And, "Daddy next door whispered whisky tunes."
0:25:17 > 0:25:20And then it just kind of started from there.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23The melody followed really easily.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25"And sometimes when I wanted, they would harmonise,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28"there was nothing that those two couldn't do."
0:25:28 > 0:25:32And then the chorus, "Embrace me, you child, you're a child of mine.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35"And I'm leaving everything I am to you.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39"Go chase the wild and night-time streets, sang Daddy.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43"And God said, 'Pray the devil doesn't get to you.' "
0:25:43 > 0:25:46# The devil doesn't get to you... #
0:25:46 > 0:25:49And the span of that song, the explosion of it,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52the, "Embrace me, you child!"
0:25:52 > 0:25:54And it was exciting to do.
0:25:56 > 0:26:02# And I'm leaving everything I am to you... #
0:26:02 > 0:26:04The whole kind of phrasing,
0:26:04 > 0:26:10the changes are not something you'd every hear on
0:26:10 > 0:26:13a record by Carole King
0:26:13 > 0:26:19or Joni or Judy Collins or Judee Sill or anybody else.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23# For the magic that they made
0:26:23 > 0:26:27# When they played wasn't... #
0:26:27 > 0:26:31Absolutely gorgeous string arrangement.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35# Embrace me, you child
0:26:35 > 0:26:39# You're a child of mine
0:26:39 > 0:26:45# And I'm leaving everything I am to you... #
0:26:46 > 0:26:48She said, "Here it is, do your thing."
0:26:48 > 0:26:51I think that's the kind of attitude she had.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56I haven't heard this since the day it was released. Let's go.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58MUSIC STARTS
0:27:07 > 0:27:08MUSIC STOPS
0:27:08 > 0:27:14The string section is probably 21 or 22, with two double basses.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16MUSIC RESUMES
0:27:23 > 0:27:28I think Carly doubled the top line of the violins with the vocal.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32AFTER I'd done the strings. I think.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34Harmonics...
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Wonderful. Wow.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55- MUSIC STOPS - Wow. It's very impressive.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57After all this time, it sounds great.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03One of the things I noticed is the incredible jump in the chorus
0:28:03 > 0:28:07that she has vocally. Quite something.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12# Lost between their heaven and their hell
0:28:12 > 0:28:15# Embrace me, you child
0:28:15 > 0:28:19# You're a child of mine
0:28:19 > 0:28:25# And I'm leaving everything I am to you... #
0:28:25 > 0:28:27SHE HUMS
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Is that...? Dum-ba! Is that an octave?
0:28:34 > 0:28:37# Embrace me, you CHILD. #
0:28:37 > 0:28:40So I can do a three and a half octave range,
0:28:40 > 0:28:44as long as I don't have to go through that BREAK period.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Because between G, A, B, C, there's a real break.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51# Embrace me, you CHILD! Child!
0:28:51 > 0:28:53- HIGH-PITCHED:- # You're a child of mine. #
0:28:53 > 0:28:55SHE LAUGHS
0:28:55 > 0:28:57Sorry, terribly sorry.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00# Go chase the wild
0:29:00 > 0:29:04# And night-time streets, sang Daddy
0:29:04 > 0:29:06# And God sang... #
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Yeah, so, it must have been an octave plus a sixth.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16And I did it just because I could.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19There was no Auto-Tune then, there was nothing digital, it was all,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23you had to be really honest and do it, be good, you had to be good.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28# Embrace me, you child... #
0:29:28 > 0:29:31I'm not sure I ever really understood what it meant,
0:29:31 > 0:29:36because it came from my subconscious, but it makes
0:29:36 > 0:29:39enough sense for me to understand it consciously too.
0:29:39 > 0:29:44# Go chase the wild... #
0:29:44 > 0:29:47A scream.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51A scream of anguish, a scream of
0:29:51 > 0:29:56pleading, of pleading with my father to be with me.
0:29:56 > 0:29:57I don't want to feel sorry for myself,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00but I didn't have my father's love.
0:30:00 > 0:30:06And I got to do without it, but I didn't know how much I needed it.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08And so sometimes it would come out in songs.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11# Then one night Daddy died
0:30:11 > 0:30:14# And went to heaven... #
0:30:14 > 0:30:18I realised that the attention that I needed from men was really
0:30:18 > 0:30:21about the attention I needed from my father.
0:30:22 > 0:30:28# I pretended not to know I'd been abandoned... #
0:30:29 > 0:30:33I've always had a paradoxical nature.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36I am at once very shy
0:30:36 > 0:30:41and also, at the same time, very outgoing. And very forthright.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45And I'm so attracted to talent, the looks don't even matter.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49- The talent and the smell are what matters. - SHE LAUGHS
0:30:49 > 0:30:51And the humour.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56And so as long as a man has talent, smell and humour, I'm a goner.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58Carly had...
0:31:00 > 0:31:04..had affairs with the producers of her first two albums.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Well, everybody wanted to have an affair with Carly.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09So, Arlyne made,
0:31:09 > 0:31:15made Carly sign a blood oath that we would never have an affair.
0:31:16 > 0:31:22And I'm not one to mix business and pleasure,
0:31:22 > 0:31:26but I feel that if she were to have an affair with any of her producers,
0:31:26 > 0:31:28I would have been the best candidate.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35When I was in an England making the No Secrets record,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38the most pressure I felt was in leaving James.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41I just wanted to get done with it and get back to James.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49I remember we were travelling back to the Vineyard from
0:31:49 > 0:31:54New York, or New York from the Vineyard, and he was asleep.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57And I just looked at him and I just looked at his face,
0:31:57 > 0:32:00the way the sun was hitting it, and I thought,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03"God, there's nothing he could do to turn me away."
0:32:03 > 0:32:06And then it just went on from there.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09I finished writing the words by the time we landed.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12And then I wrote the melody as soon as I sat down at the piano.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23# There's nothing you can do to turn me away
0:32:23 > 0:32:28# Nothing anyone can say
0:32:28 > 0:32:33# You're with me now and as long as you stay
0:32:33 > 0:32:38- # Loving you's the right thing to do - Loving you's the right thing
0:32:38 > 0:32:41# Loving you's the right thing... #
0:32:41 > 0:32:46Carly's telling me, here's how relationships are going to happen.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48Maybe the guy will cheat,
0:32:48 > 0:32:53maybe I will feel some ambivalence
0:32:53 > 0:32:56about what I'm about to do.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00# I know you've had some bad luck with ladies before
0:33:00 > 0:33:04# You drove them, or they drove you crazy
0:33:04 > 0:33:10# But more important is I know you're the one and I'm sure
0:33:10 > 0:33:15- # Loving you's the right thing to do - Loving you's the right thing
0:33:15 > 0:33:18# Loving you's the right thing... #
0:33:18 > 0:33:22Yeah, The Right Thing To Do is a beautiful statement of love
0:33:22 > 0:33:27for this guy who she already knew was a troubled soul.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32And, you know, "I've seen you shoot up.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37"I've seen you shake with withdrawal, but I'm going to,
0:33:37 > 0:33:42"I'm going to find the sensitive soul within you,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46"I'm going to bring that out and it's going to be OK, you and me."
0:33:47 > 0:33:52# And it used to be for a while
0:33:52 > 0:33:57# That the river flowed right to my door
0:33:57 > 0:34:02# Making me just a little too free
0:34:02 > 0:34:09# But now the river doesn't seem to stop here any more... #
0:34:13 > 0:34:16It's just a bit of a metaphor, isn't it?
0:34:16 > 0:34:19It used to be for a while that the river, the river of life,
0:34:19 > 0:34:23the river of men, of opportunity, of...
0:34:23 > 0:34:25of young girlship flowed
0:34:25 > 0:34:29through my door, making me just a little too free.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32But now the river doesn't seem to stop here any more because
0:34:32 > 0:34:37there's one place that I wanted to get to, and I got to.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42# Hold me in your hands like a bunch of flowers... #
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Carly played piano on this one and a good bit of the vocal was
0:34:48 > 0:34:50her live vocal with the piano.
0:34:53 > 0:34:58- # Loving you's the right thing to do - Loving you's the right thing
0:34:58 > 0:35:01# Loving you's the right thing
0:35:01 > 0:35:04# Loving you's the right thing to do... #
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Such a great record,
0:35:08 > 0:35:13and I remember thinking this has to be the second single.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15And I believe it was.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19Loving You's The Right Thing To Do was another song that was one
0:35:19 > 0:35:25of the many songs that started out much slower.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27And Richard said, "Speed up the tempo a little bit."
0:35:27 > 0:35:29So it started out...
0:35:29 > 0:35:34- SLOW TEMPO:- # There's nothing you can do to turn me away... #
0:35:34 > 0:35:37It started about like that. And by the end it was...
0:35:37 > 0:35:40- FASTER TEMPO:- # There's nothing you can do to turn me away... #
0:35:40 > 0:35:44So it sped up that much. And the key probably got higher too.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47I'm very happy with that track.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49# Loving you's the right thing
0:35:49 > 0:35:52# Loving you's the... #
0:35:55 > 0:35:59This is an interesting song because it's
0:35:59 > 0:36:04a basic track of Carly's piano, acoustic guitar, bass and drums.
0:36:07 > 0:36:12Not any big, dramatic stuff like in You're So Vain.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17Just a supportive role, keeping the rhythm.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Basically, all the listener is really hearing is this...
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Listener's just hearing...
0:36:25 > 0:36:27HE PLAYS BEAT
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Because all the other instruments are going on.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32- There is that. - HE PLAYS BEAT
0:36:32 > 0:36:35But it's down in the mix.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39Some of the depth comes from the brass and strings.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41And that great conga part.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43MUSIC STARTS
0:36:51 > 0:36:56And yet it sounds... There's a lot more going on than meets the eye.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59A lot more going on in the ear than meets the eye.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04Carly does melodic shifts in a really unusual way, I think.
0:37:04 > 0:37:05In a really interesting way.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08# Loving you's the right thing
0:37:08 > 0:37:13# Loving you's the right thing to do
0:37:13 > 0:37:17# Is the right thing to do... #
0:37:18 > 0:37:22You're sort of vaulted into something completely different.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25I think she's very underrated as a writer.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28# Nothing you can ever do will turn me away from you
0:37:28 > 0:37:34# I love you now and I love you now... #
0:37:34 > 0:37:37I start with words...
0:37:37 > 0:37:39that are usually emotionally brought on,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42they're brought on by having to figure out something,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46by having to move through an emotion and get outside of myself.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50So I put it on paper and I look at it from the third person.
0:37:50 > 0:37:56And then I add the melody. "If I find you somewhere, I'll know it's you."
0:37:56 > 0:38:00Just to pick a line. And then I go, I think about the rhythm.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05# If I find you somewhere, I'll know it's you. #
0:38:05 > 0:38:07Or it could be...
0:38:07 > 0:38:12- SLOWER TEMPO:- # If I find you somewhere, I'll know it's you. #
0:38:12 > 0:38:15So it can go in lots of different directions.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18You can make up a line, for instance, and tell me what it is and I can phone
0:38:18 > 0:38:21you my instant melody to it.
0:38:21 > 0:38:27And that's just something I was born with, that's a little asset,
0:38:27 > 0:38:29I suppose you could call it.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Are you able to express yourself more freely on record than...?
0:38:35 > 0:38:39- I mean, do you feel pressure, from live performances?- Yes, I do.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42In fact, the more well-known I've become,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45I find it more and more difficult to do live concerts.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Even though it's a very... It's a great experience in one way,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53but I think anything that's that exciting is also partly terrifying.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56At least it is to me, I don't know whether it is to everybody.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58'I was having a lot of anxiety attacks.'
0:38:58 > 0:39:02We'd go into the studio and even a cup of tea could put
0:39:02 > 0:39:03me into an anxiety attack.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06And my heart would start beating really fast.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10Well, Richard is enough to make anybody a little bit blarmy.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15But he's also so much fun that he intensified my energy,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19and whatever... Wherever my energy was that day was going to be
0:39:19 > 0:39:23intensified, and if it was in a very moody kind of,
0:39:23 > 0:39:27His Friends Are More Than Fond Of Robin-esque things,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29it was very mellow.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33His Friends Are More Than Fond Of Robin,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36which is not an easy title to remember.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41It feels like something that might be out of a Sondheim piece.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46# His friends are more than fond of Robin
0:39:46 > 0:39:50# He doesn't need to compliment them
0:39:50 > 0:39:53# And always as he leaves
0:39:53 > 0:39:59# He leaves them feeling proud just to know him... #
0:39:59 > 0:40:04Richard was notoriously late for sessions.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06He was sometimes four and five hours late.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09We would tell Richard the session would be 10 o'clock,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12and we'd all show up at 11 or a little bit after.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14And inevitably, we'd still beat him there.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17But we wouldn't waste an hour of studio time.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19I'm not sure we ever let him in on the joke.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24And so I decided this time just to go downstairs and just began
0:40:24 > 0:40:27to write it, and it just came to me really, really fast.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29And I said, "Richard, if you're going to be late,
0:40:29 > 0:40:32"I'm going to be doing what I want to do."
0:40:32 > 0:40:34He loved the song, and it was very, it was a very simple song.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38# When Robin goes on holiday
0:40:38 > 0:40:43# There's no-one living in our lane
0:40:43 > 0:40:47# Oh, yes, folks still live in our lane
0:40:47 > 0:40:51# But they're not like Robin... #
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Such a lovely little track that really
0:40:57 > 0:41:02has nothing but a guitar, acoustic guitar and piano,
0:41:02 > 0:41:06with the voices. And then this little choir of synth sounds.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08MUSIC STARTS
0:41:12 > 0:41:15This is in the very early days of synthesisers, when they were
0:41:15 > 0:41:18monophonic, meaning you could only play one note at a time.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22And they created these wonderful little melodies.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25HE PLAYS NOTE
0:41:33 > 0:41:37The thing with Carly was always, "Never get in the way of what
0:41:37 > 0:41:40"she's doing, because what she's doing really is perfect,
0:41:40 > 0:41:44"and we're embellishing it rather than changing it."
0:41:44 > 0:41:47She was just playing those softer arpeggios on the piano, and there
0:41:47 > 0:41:50was no space. Every space was completely filled.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52So, instead, what I did,
0:41:52 > 0:41:56was I added an additional voice to what she was already doing.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01Just the pingingness of a guitar, which a piano doesn't have that sound.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05And a little bit of... A little bit of vibrato to it.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08I played almost exactly what she played, which is...
0:42:22 > 0:42:24MUSIC PLAYS
0:42:25 > 0:42:29On this song, Jimmy complements her quite nicely,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32not just playing around her, but actually playing with her.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35MUSIC PLAYS
0:42:39 > 0:42:42Well, there's a very personal part of that song, which is the chorus.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46"Robin, I've never told you, but I'll be here until we're old.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49"Please learn to call me in your dreams.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52"The way I'm looking at you is just as it seems."
0:42:52 > 0:42:56Which has a forever quality to it.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59I think it's a homage to Jake Brackman. In her autobiography,
0:42:59 > 0:43:04she writes about the impact that Brackman had on her when she
0:43:04 > 0:43:07first met him, when they were working at the summer camp together.
0:43:09 > 0:43:16Carly was the guitar teacher, led the sing-alongs around the campfire.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20She heard a lot about me before I arrived and was kind of set
0:43:20 > 0:43:25up by other people that we were going to become friends.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28He was writing for The New Yorker. He was a bigwig.
0:43:28 > 0:43:34I mean, he was such an important guy at the age of 21. We became friends.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38And there's a real understanding between the two of us.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40And it will go on and on and on.
0:43:40 > 0:43:45It won't be thrown off its course by having a romantic relationship.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47This one will just stay pristine.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52# Robin, I've never told you
0:43:52 > 0:43:56# But I'll be yours until we're old
0:43:56 > 0:44:00# Please learn to call me
0:44:00 > 0:44:03# In your dreams... #
0:44:03 > 0:44:07You remove all the complexities and all the ambivalences
0:44:07 > 0:44:13and you make it just more heartfelt that way.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15It's sweet, what can I say, it's sweet.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21By the time we got around to making the No Secrets album,
0:44:21 > 0:44:26he was already very much there as a strong collaborator.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29When I didn't write all by myself, I wrote with Jake.
0:44:29 > 0:44:34So there was another melody that I had for a song called
0:44:34 > 0:44:39It Was So Easy. And I gave him just a little guitar demo... Dun, dun, dun...
0:44:39 > 0:44:44A little kind of a simple folk thing, like...
0:44:44 > 0:44:47It was... # Duh, ba-da, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh
0:44:47 > 0:44:51# Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh
0:44:51 > 0:44:54# Duh, duh, duh, duh, ba-da, duh, duh...#
0:44:54 > 0:44:59She'd just given me "La-las" on a cassette machine.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02I just gave him just the little bit of the guitar part.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05And he came up with the lyrics. And they're such good lyrics.
0:45:09 > 0:45:16# I remember a time romping through the woods
0:45:16 > 0:45:22# Sun against our skin instead of clothes
0:45:23 > 0:45:26# When we felt hungry, we would eat
0:45:26 > 0:45:30# When we felt glad, we'd dance
0:45:30 > 0:45:35# And whenever we felt drowsy, we would doze... #
0:45:35 > 0:45:40It's a song you could almost imagine being sung around a, you know,
0:45:40 > 0:45:43a campfire on the beach, on the Vineyard.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46# Easy then... #
0:45:46 > 0:45:47Ah.
0:45:47 > 0:45:53# Never making any plans, it was so easy then
0:45:53 > 0:45:55# Holding hands
0:45:56 > 0:46:02# And there was a time when our fears could be named
0:46:03 > 0:46:08# A courage meant not refusing dares... #
0:46:08 > 0:46:13As opposed to what we experience when we grow up,
0:46:13 > 0:46:17that's more like free-floating anxiety.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21# I remember when we took such cares to step never on the cracks,
0:46:21 > 0:46:24# No, only in the squares
0:46:24 > 0:46:29# Or else we'd be abducted by the bears... #
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Carly grew up with Winnie the Pooh.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36It was so easy, it's kind of like a Christopher Robin thing.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41It's not sort of "earth mama", sort of, you know,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45pounding, Laurel Canyon piano rock.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49You feel very much that it comes from New York,
0:46:49 > 0:46:53it comes from the East Coast, it comes from Martha's Vineyard.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57# It was so easy then
0:46:57 > 0:47:00# Never making any plans
0:47:00 > 0:47:04# It was so easy then... #
0:47:04 > 0:47:08I heard the song for the first time and immediately it reminded me
0:47:08 > 0:47:11of Teach Your Children Well from Crosby, Stills & Nash.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16And there was a pedal steel solo on that song that I absolutely loved.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20And I thought it should really be that kind of solo, but I don't think
0:47:20 > 0:47:24Carly and Richard were in agreement, or they hadn't thought about it.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28So what I decided to do was take a little initiative and do what
0:47:28 > 0:47:33I thought would be a solo every single take.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37On the live session, rather than do it as an overdub.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09So I just stopped playing whatever chords I was doing,
0:48:09 > 0:48:13just jumped into the solo and it ended up on the record.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Making the No Secrets record,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21we had no idea it was going to be the name of the album.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Until we were in the art department,
0:48:24 > 0:48:28because we were going to call it all kinds of other things. Like...
0:48:29 > 0:48:33..The Ballad Of A Vain Man. We didn't know what to call it.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35So, No Secrets came up,
0:48:35 > 0:48:40it was so obvious once we had the album artwork.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45It's this powerful woman, you know, kind of walking out of the
0:48:45 > 0:48:48Portobello Hotel, going about her business.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54We shot and we shot and we shot.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57And then I had to get to the studio, and I said,
0:48:57 > 0:49:00"Just let me run in and put on my clothes."
0:49:00 > 0:49:04So I went in and I put on my red jeans and my blue top and my
0:49:04 > 0:49:07red hat that matched the jeans and my boots.
0:49:07 > 0:49:13And I went outside and I was just about to get into the cab door
0:49:13 > 0:49:16and I put out my finger like that, and he shot, and that was the cover.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25My photograph captures a casual...
0:49:25 > 0:49:32dynamic posture of an artist caught in their natural setting.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34I certainly didn't tell her to put her hand on her hip and hold
0:49:34 > 0:49:35her hand that way.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42I loved it, it was the most, you know,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45unposed for picture you could have asked for.
0:49:45 > 0:49:50And it seemed just exactly like what my summer was like in London.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55Just as natural and unpretentious as can be.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58And then there was questions about whether we should airbrush
0:49:58 > 0:50:00the nipples, because I was braless.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05And the nipples were a focal point of the picture.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08There was an argument about whether those should go.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13I had not noticed that until the first time someone mentioned it.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17I grew up in Hollywood, went to love-ins, the beach.
0:50:19 > 0:50:20I just never noticed it.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22I was used to them.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25I was used to my nipples.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29So therefore to see them gleaming there through my
0:50:29 > 0:50:31blue shirt looked right.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37Number 19.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39Take 19, Rich.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41I guess there were 19 takes
0:50:41 > 0:50:44but I'd been known to do a lot of takes.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48# We have no secrets
0:50:50 > 0:50:53# We tell each other everything
0:50:55 > 0:50:58# About the lovers in our past
0:50:58 > 0:51:01# And why they didn't last. #
0:51:05 > 0:51:07And I think that song I wrote,
0:51:07 > 0:51:11I wrote just before I left LA to go to London for the summer
0:51:11 > 0:51:14and James and I were leaving each other.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17There was some harrowing things that happened just before I left
0:51:17 > 0:51:21and he felt as if he had to tell me.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23He had to tell me because
0:51:23 > 0:51:25he needed to come clean.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34I don't know many other songs that actually talk about that.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36They're really open with each other
0:51:36 > 0:51:38but I sort of, in some ways, wish we didn't have to be completely
0:51:38 > 0:51:41open. I wish I didn't know who you'd been out with.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44I wish I didn't know about Joni.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47And I wish you didn't know about, you know,
0:51:47 > 0:51:51Warren and Jack and
0:51:51 > 0:51:54Chris and all the others.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59And so it was the pain of, it was the happiness that
0:51:59 > 0:52:04he was answering my questions but so often they don't answer my prayers.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08# And though we know each other
0:52:08 > 0:52:12# Better when we explore
0:52:12 > 0:52:15# Sometimes I wish
0:52:17 > 0:52:20# Often I wish
0:52:20 > 0:52:23# That I never knew... #
0:52:24 > 0:52:27On the first mix, there's this nice sweeping guitar
0:52:27 > 0:52:31and Carly came to call it the sea monster.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38# The water was cold
0:52:38 > 0:52:42# The beach was empty but for one... #
0:52:42 > 0:52:45There was a reference to a beach in this song.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49By coincidence, prior to doing this, we were in England but back
0:52:49 > 0:52:53in New York I had gone on a whale watching boat ride
0:52:53 > 0:52:57and I just thought, wouldn't it be interesting to have a whale solo.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00And it was simply...
0:53:00 > 0:53:05Using the volume pedal, rather than hit the note like that,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07I go.
0:53:07 > 0:53:08WHALE SONG
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Just a kind of mystical sound like that and the whole
0:53:13 > 0:53:15solo was nothing but the whale, just...
0:53:15 > 0:53:17WHALE SONG
0:53:20 > 0:53:22Like that.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25You faded in with the pedal and you put tonnes and tonnes of echo
0:53:25 > 0:53:27on it so it just kind of sounds like underwater.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30That was the genesis of this guitar part.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32Here's the sea monster.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34# ..a pint of your rum
0:53:34 > 0:53:38# And later when you told me
0:53:38 > 0:53:42# You said she was a bore
0:53:42 > 0:53:45# Sometimes I wish... #
0:53:45 > 0:53:47GUITAR WHALE SONG
0:53:47 > 0:53:49# Often times I wish... #
0:53:49 > 0:53:50GUITAR WHALE SONG
0:53:50 > 0:53:53# That I never, never knew
0:53:53 > 0:53:57# Some of those secrets of yours. #
0:53:59 > 0:54:01BASS GUITAR LICK
0:54:05 > 0:54:10That's a typical sort of thing where you feel the song is lagging then
0:54:10 > 0:54:14suddenly something comes in that makes it lift up again, you know.
0:54:14 > 0:54:20That's why I picked that particular lick for that moment.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26PLAYS BASS GUITAR LICK
0:54:26 > 0:54:27That was there already.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31I think Carly had that idea, or whatever. I can't remember.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34- But this other one. - PLAYS BASS GUITAR LICK
0:54:36 > 0:54:39That was one of mine.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43# Sometimes I wish
0:54:43 > 0:54:46# Often times I wish
0:54:47 > 0:54:51# That I never, never knew
0:54:51 > 0:54:54# Some of those secrets of yours. #
0:54:56 > 0:54:58It's very seductive.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00It's very, you know, um...
0:55:00 > 0:55:03It repays listening.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06There's a sort of web of sound.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09There's a sheen, there's a kind of glossiness.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11The players are fantastic.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13You can feel the perfectionism.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18We should also mention the magnificent string
0:55:18 > 0:55:21arrangement by Kirby Johnson.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25# You always answer my questions... #
0:55:25 > 0:55:27STRINGS INTRODUCED
0:55:27 > 0:55:32# But they don't always answer my prayers. #
0:55:33 > 0:55:35I prefer the arrangement that I do now
0:55:35 > 0:55:39which is a bossa nova version.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41# In the name of honesty
0:55:41 > 0:55:44# In the name of what is fair
0:55:46 > 0:55:49# You always answer my questions
0:55:49 > 0:55:55# But they don't always answer my prayers. #
0:55:57 > 0:56:02I like singing it more softly and more sort of sinewy now.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08# Some of those secrets of yours... #
0:56:08 > 0:56:14- DEEPER:- # Some of those secrets of yours. #
0:56:16 > 0:56:18When I got the record home and listened to it,
0:56:18 > 0:56:21I remember saying to James, "I hate this record."
0:56:21 > 0:56:24With the exception of You're So Vain and Loving Is The Right Thing To Do
0:56:24 > 0:56:26and His Friends Are More Than Fond Of Robin.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Then, when my album zoomed to Number One,
0:56:32 > 0:56:34it was on New Year's Eve.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38And I remember just feeling very embarrassed.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Very embarrassed that...
0:56:40 > 0:56:42You know, I didn't want to be Number One
0:56:42 > 0:56:45if James wasn't going to be Number One.
0:56:45 > 0:56:46The records were released at the same time
0:56:46 > 0:56:49and I felt very uncomfortable about it.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52If they were both about to release albums at the same time,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55she wanted to hold back.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58She was always more concerned about James than herself.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04He was the best writer, the best singer, the best man, everything.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08So I didn't... I never felt happy.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12I never felt really happy because I was always thinking,
0:57:12 > 0:57:15"I want to hide. I want to hide from it."
0:57:15 > 0:57:19I don't know how many women would do that now, or would be required to.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25I suppose it took the long way around to really double back
0:57:25 > 0:57:28on me and make me realise how proud I am of it
0:57:28 > 0:57:32and how significantly, as a life's work.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35As a piece of work that I have done in this lifetime, it's pretty good.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38There's a goodness there. There's a vulnerability.
0:57:38 > 0:57:40She has sort of got it all, really.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43You warm to the person on this record.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46And decades later the songs still have so much to say.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50Recently Carly did,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53at some big stadium with Taylor Swift.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57I think tonight is one of the most special nights of the tour
0:57:57 > 0:58:00because I'm sitting here with Carly Simon and we are going to
0:58:00 > 0:58:03sing You're So Vain tonight and I'm so excited.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06- BOTH:- # ..clouds in my coffee
0:58:06 > 0:58:08# You're so vain
0:58:08 > 0:58:13# You probably think this song is about you... #
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Taylor called me. She wrote me first and asked me whether I would do it
0:58:17 > 0:58:21with her at the Foxborough, which is near here.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24And I said I would love to.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27When I heard You're So Vain I just thought that is the best song
0:58:27 > 0:58:29that has ever been written.
0:58:29 > 0:58:33That is the most direct way anyone has ever addressed a break-up.
0:58:33 > 0:58:34It's amazing.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37- BOTH:- You're so vain - You're so vain
0:58:37 > 0:58:41# I bet you think this song is about you.
0:58:41 > 0:58:43# Don't you? Don't you? #
0:58:43 > 0:58:46We sang the whole thing, it was great. It was great.
0:58:46 > 0:58:50Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for one of your own, Carly Simon!
0:59:02 > 0:59:05# You're so vain
0:59:05 > 0:59:10# You probably think this song is about you
0:59:10 > 0:59:14# You're so vain
0:59:14 > 0:59:17# You probably think this song is about you... #