Song:That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
Album:Reflections: Carly Simon's Greatest Hits
Though it wasn't her biggest hit, That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be was Carly Simon's first hit. So it set her up for bigger things. She was born June 25, 1945 in New York City. Her father was Simon & Schuster publishing house co-founder Richard Simon. In the 60s, Carly recorded with her sister Lucy as The Simon Sisters. They recorded children's music for Columbia Records. When Lucy got married and started her family, Carly signed with Elektra Records. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be was the first single from her 1971 debut album Carly Simon which was produced by veteran producer Eddie Kramer. The song is a cynical look at marriage and Elektra was concerned about releasing it as a debut single. But it reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Carly a star. Carly wrote it with long time collaborator Jacob Brackman who at the time was a film critic for Esquire Magazine. The two met at summer camp in 1968. They would go on to write several songs together including Haven't Got Time For the Pain. Carly's second single Anticipation also did well. But then she blew up with the 1972 number one hit You're So Vain with everyone guessing who the song is about. That would turn out to be Carly's only number one hit. She married James Taylor in 1972 and their duet Mockingbird was a top five hit in 1975. Other top ten hits were Nobody Does It Better in 1977 and You Belong To Me in 1978. She faded in the late 70s wasn't as successful in the 80s until she signed with Arista and Coming Around Again got her back on the charts in 1987. You can get all her hits on this budget comp. Carly and James Taylor divorced in 1983. They don't speak but she is good friends with his brother Livingston Taylor. She won a Grammy and an Oscar for her work on the 1988 film Working Girl. Carly is still active. She was never big on touring because she gets major league stage fright. And she had a major bout with breast cancer in 1998. She was one of the first pop singers to record standards and those albums did well. She last released a new album in 2009. She appeared on stage performing You're So Vain with Taylor Swift last year. But she seems to be semi-retired at this point. Here's Carly Simon performing That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be on the ABC TV special Good Vibrations from Central Park Aug. 19, 1971.
I grew up with Carly Simon but did not know a whole lot about her. Thank-you Frank for the information. I did not know about the divorce from James Taylor , or that they do not speak to each other. That's to bad. But she did have string of hits when I was growing up and I like some of her music. Very good post there Frank.
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