From The Heart

Dear Carly,
When I was a scrawny 15 year old in 1971, I bought my first Carly Simon LP "Anticipation", and I've been a huge fan ever since. I must have been one of the only black kids in Dayton, OH that was a Carly Simon junkie!

Your lyrics and melodies have always spoken directly to me in some wonderfully mysterious way. I have many favorites among your recordings, but one of my favorites remains "Torch". I was a manager of a large music and video retailer at the time it was first released. I was extremely disappointed that Warners didn't seem to lift a finger to promote it. But my district manager and I loved it, so we pushed it like crazy in our stores. We ended up selling many copies with lots of in-store play. I'm thrilled that it is now one of the strongest staples in your catalog.

My question - how did you choose the songs on that recording, and how involved were you in creating the mood and arrangements? The song choices are perfect and the arrangements are simply spellbinding. Your composition "From the Heart" still makes me choke up.

Thanks for all the years of great music. I'm looking forward to many more! Art Glover - Denver, CO

Thank you so much. Mo Ostin from Warner Brothers (now Dreamworks) admits that their not getting behind the Torch album was one of their big mistakes.

"From the Heart" was a song about the break up of my marriage and how dreams and sleeping make you forget the conscious strategies. Love Carly - 10/25/03

Instruments on Piglet's Big Movie soundtrack

Dear Ms. Simon,

My mom is helping me type this. I am 4 years old and I love your music for Piglet's Big Movie. Everything you did was exactly right. How many instruments do you play?

I love you,
Kendra Egland - Placentia, CA

Dear Kendra,
Thank you for your letter. I am so glad you liked the music for the Piglet movie.

I played everything I could find. I played the little drum from Africa, the big drum from Ireland, the guitar from California, the keyboards which are electric, the kalimba from Africa and spoons and Tupperware and I made my thighs into drums and my hands into percussion instruments. It was fun to be a living breathing band. Love, Carly - 10/14/03

Halfway Round The World

Dear Carly,
I have only been a fan of yours for about 10 years now, but ever since a big one. There isn't a single song you have ever written that I don't like. My favorite is definitely Halfway Round The World. It seems so different and therefore so like you.

Do you remember writing it? What were you thinking at the time? Do you often hear people comment on it like I did? Love, Joerg - Hannover/ Germany

Oh yes, I remember everything about it.

I had just been disinvited from some little thing and I made it bigger and bigger and bigger until it was a whole country. Getting Taj and Ben to sing on it was so much fun. I'm so glad you like it. More stuff is coming. Love Carly - 10/9/03