Rivers

For so many years, I have enjoyed your music and I try as often as possible to catch your appearances on various TV talk shows. The interviewers ask so many wonderful questions but I never have heard this one asked: Much of the lyrics you compose refer to rivers. Is there some significance of rivers in your life? I know this has piqued my curiosity for years and I'm sure that you have a number of fans who have wondered about your personal rivers. Joyce J. Gagnon - Orlando, FL

If you think about it, your (one's) subconscious are full of rivers. We have tributaries going into all parts of our psyche's. Other than that, I like rivers. I like oceans too, but there is something romantic about rivers. Maybe because they have a lot of weeping willows on their banks. Carly Simon - 11/26/01

Barefoot

Hi Carly, I saw you perform at the Orpheum in Boston, Tuesday September 30, 1980. You performed splendidly and you gave a tremendous show. During the entire show you were barefoot which I think is so darned adorable and is practically a trademark of your personality. Lately, when I've seen you on television, you are usually wearing sneakers. Will you be going back to those barefoot performances? Robert Gagnon - Revere, MA

Ah HA!!! You caught me wearing shoes! Those are few and far between those times. I have large and wonderful feet. They are good to look at and they make me happy when I see them. Therefore, I try and keep them in sight. It is a rare occasion when I cover them but you were there and you should consider yourself an experienced person because of it. Carly Simon - 11/23/01

B.B King on Hurt?

Dear Carly: A fan since 1971, I imagined myself your preeminent fan - the most knowledgeable party to all-things Carly save, friends and family. And now to be faced with the challenge of piquing your interest in such a way as to garner an answer leaves me humbled.

However, risk-taker that I am, here goes: Prior to the release of "Torch", I read a blurb in Time Magazine that stated B.B.King had laid down a guitar track for your cover of "Hurt" that appeared on that album. As we know, the version that appeared was sans Mr. King. Was there any truth to that item, and if so, what happened to the track? Dale Young - Munster, IN

As happens very rarely with geniuses (Mr. King) it is painful when something that he played didn't seem to work in the way we had hoped. To this day, I can't look at a picture of him without feeling bad. I can't hear his voice without wishing to hear my own saying: "Im sorry. I'm so sorry, for wasting your precious talent.

I remember Mike Mainieri as being very professional and calling him up and just explaining the truth, which was that it didn't really work. Everybody took it as business. Just business. I took to bed for days and thought of quitting the business!!! I've grown up a little bit since, but not that much!! Carly Simon - 11/21/01

Hello Big Man

Recently I've been listening to a lot of your older CDs that I haven't heard in awhile and enjoying them all over again. Today I was listening to the song "Hello Big Man." It's so lovely! I wondered what your mother thought of this song. Did she ever tell you how she felt about it? Betsy - Albany, NY

She was absolutely a Sphinx. She never told me what she really thought, but it was part compliment and part confusion. She didn't really know how to play it and so she played it noncommittal. Carly Simon - 11/19/01

Songs on Spy

I have heard you comment on several occasions that you thought that 'Spy' was a under appreciated and "little bought" record. While somewhat of a departure from 'Boys In The Trees', it has two of the finest songs on board, "We're So Close" and "Never Been Gone", as well as the enigmatic "Memorial Day", and has remained one of my favorite Carly releases. I've often wondered what was the catalyst for "Vengeance"? Thanks from the Last Frontier. A.C. Brown - Anchorage, Alaska

I thought "Spy" was under appreciated for good reasons. It was uneven and the arrangements didn't always go with the soul of the song. I agree that "We're So Close" is a pretty good song. Very scary because so true.

" Never Been Gone" is always a heartwarming song to sing because it means coming back to my island for me. "Memorial Day" I thought was a fairly sophomoric attempt at being cool. I'm embarrassed to listen to it now. I do love "Vengeance". Seeing one's lover as the Police is what inspired it. Carly Simon - 11/16/01

Taking care of her voice

Thank you for giving so much joy to my life for more than 30 years!! Reading the comments on "The Bedroom Tapes", most people -and I agree - think your voice now is stronger and nicer than ever? How do you take care of your voice? What changes have you perceived through the years? Rogelio - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Thank you for the nice compliment on the pipes. I suppose I have never abused them. I don't smoke which is a major thing. I also don't really get old in my mind. I flicker between late adolescence and early infancy.

On the truly practical front, I keep a humidifier where I sleep and I sleep a long time (eight hours). I also never shout at people, I just ice them out, and I'm conscious that I don't try to speak above loud noises. I move my lips more to compensate for a softer voice. People can usually read them.

Of course not touring is very helpful because you don't get to wear it out as you're making all that money. Consequently, I'm broke. Do you happen to be a rich man who might take care of me? Carly Simon - 11/14/01

Typical Day - Part II

Carly, How about another installment of " a typical day in your life"? You left off with tea in the morning. Love to you! Gene Tradd - Andover, MA

After the Chai tea I generally get my blood pressure up by remembering the last annoying thing that happened to me yesterday. For example: the neighbors have decided that they can bring trucks and other construction vehicles through my private roads. There is much fighting going on here about this. The land conservation organization that owns land adjacent to my house agrees with me, but doesn't want to get any bad press so they are not taking a stand. I call various neighbors and bitch. I try to tell then what it would be like if someone else lived here and how subdivisions would make their lives far more crowded than it is now. That takes a few hours (including talks to lawyers and pieces of toast).

Then I see about various things that need fixing in the house such as chimney linings, gutter leaks, caulking issues, prep for winter season with apple trees. Animals food, animal appointments for hoof cleaning and such and then at about noon I start working in my little bedroom studio. It lasts for ten to fifteen minutes at which point I am summoned by walkie talkie to one of the areas where some 'problem' has occurred. Usually it is a brand new problem: a leaky carburetor, a missing shingle over a precarious insulation which has finally blown off.

The plumber comes over with a new faucet for the kitchen sink which turns out to get in the way of the hot water dispenser. He doesn't give a good God damn which in turn makes me call his boss. I am promised something or other. I write it down so I remember who I am mad at and then go back up to my studio. Right as I sit down, the phone rings...... (til next time). Isn't it romantic? Carly Simon - 11/12/01

Gwen Carter status

Carly, I love reading your answers to these questions because it shows off your unique and wonderful sense of humor. With that in mind, could you tell us where you imagine that silly pest Gwen Carter would be in 2001? Riley Binz - New Orleans, LA

My wonderful friend and colleague, Jake Brackman, wrote that lyric. It would be great to ask him. However, I picture Gwenn in an even bigger bra and her rag dolls getting a work out from her grandchildren who respect them not at all. Carly Simon - 11/10/01

We Have No Secrets

Hi Carly - My question is about a song called "We Have No Secrets". I know how it feels to get an answer to a question about one's intimate past that isn't what you want to hear. In your opinion, based on your experiences in relationships, do you feel that everything should be laid out on the table before a marriage, or since things are in the past, should they remain there to avoid confusion and pain? Your songs and your website are great, and for you to talk to your fans makes you the classiest celebrity anywhere. Pete - New York, NY

It all depends on the two people involved in the relationship. Some experienced people of high consciousness can take lots of truth. Others who have been wounded and don't know the way around the pain, just can't take too much.

Also there is the issue of what IS the truth. The components of "Secrets" are usually so subjective that to examine them before the light of current relationships is excessive and not necessarily factual. Fiction has a way of gravy-ing up the past. This is not to say that LYING is allowed. Just mercy and discretion. Love Carly Carly Simon - 11/8/01

Madeline - In Two Straight Lines

Carly -- My two-year old daughter just loves the Madeline movie and particularly your great song "In Two Straight Lines" at the end. She dances and runs around every time she hears it. How did you get involved with that movie? Did you read and enjoy the book as a child? Peter Duffy - Portland, OR

I LOVED the Madeline books. As I remember my involvement with the movie was quite serendipitous and I was able to write the song the same day as I got the notice that the company was looking for something. I treated it like an audition and I was lucky to 'get' the job. Naturally I used much of the material already quite obviously in the words of the book, for the song. "Dooo doo dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo life is grand" is one of my heavier messages. A little like Sartre, a little Tolstoyan, and yet...a touch of Flaubert! Don't you think? Carly Simon - 11/6/01

Allowing Cover Versions

Listening to "Superman's Song" on your website was wonderful because, having never heard the song and not seeing it live, I had no idea when you would come in. When you did, it sent chills through me. Anita Baker is another favorite singer/songwriter of mine. I really like her version of "You Belong To Me." What crosses your mind before giving people the okay to use your songs? Patty Joyce - Buxton, Maine

The only thing I think about is whether or not they or I will do a good enough job to make it worthwhile. I only want to add something special. That is a great song: "The superman song" and Brad's voice is unique and powerfully evocative. Boy was I glad to make their acquaintances. Carly Simon - 11/4/01

Frank Sinatra - Duets

As a baby boomer whose parents were bobbysoxers, I grew up (naturally) listening to a great deal of Frank Sinatra music. When his CD "Duets" was released, I was very excited to hear that you, being the singer/songwriter that has most influenced me, was one of the honored few who were chosen to record a duet with him. I was wondering what that experience was like for you and if you consider it a privilege to have been chosen. By the way, keep turning out the music that has become the soundtrack of my life. Marianne Cancelleri - Glendale, NY

Yes, quite an enormous honor to be with Frank Sinatra. An all time high in my career. I got a silver frame from his wife Barbara to thank me. It just had some paper around it and I think it may have come from Cartier or Tiffany or one of those super silver stores, but it had no picture of Frank in it. I wanted an autographed picture of Frank. Do you think that's too much to ask for? Carly Simon - 11/1/01