Have always found some fascinating about backmasking music. For those reading who don’t know what that is, it’s when you play something backwards and hear something new. There has long been talk than when you play Led Zeppelin’s famous Stairway To Heaven song backwards you’ll hear something about “sweet Satan” and other potentially satantic messages. In the 80s when I was going to school, bands weren’t scary heavy metal if they didn’t partake.

The question with a lot of backwards masking is whether or not it is phonetic or intentional. The Zeppelin thing appears to be completely phonetic.

Still I was intrigued to learn that Carly Simon had cut a new version of You’re So Vain and allegedly in a section played backwards she whispers the name: “David” This is what is leading various publications to report this is who the song is about, something that has plagued the minds of many since the song was released and went to #1 back in 1972:

London’s Sun newspaper jumped on the clue, reporting Friday that "David" referred to record producer David Geffen. The tabloid said that Simon resented Geffen at the time for promoting folk singer Joni Mitchell Joni over her.

38 years of intrigue, it’s just the kind of thing to make you go hmm. And brilliant marketing too, as it prompted me to go immediately over to AmazonMP3, find the song on her ‘new’ album Never Been Gone which was released back in November 2009 and buy the new version of You’re So Vain. Not so I could listen to it backwards but so I could listen to see how I liked the new version. It was worth paying 99 cents for the privilege.

The new version starts with some guy (guitarist?) counting out “one … two … this in a few” – Or does he say “Misses in a few” ? And then some catchy opening acoustic guitar work. Then Carly’s famous, slightly nasal voice. Sadly age doesn’t give her the vocal chops at 64 that she had when she first sang this. I didn’t dig the pacing, which is a bit slower compared to the original or the whole dragging out the “clouuuuuuuuuuud” in my coffee part. I’m like, huh, WTF? And they gashed the guitar solo?!?! Argh, I always loved that solo.

Yeah, a new version should be different and this one certainly is, but Carly didn’t add anything new vocally that blew me away or was in anything but annoying, maybe even irritating. And the ending with the “gotta have more cowbell” – ouch. What was she thinking? She shoots, air ball.

Major thumbs up on the original and even the live version she did on her 1988 live concert and I love the intrigue and marketing, but this version is not worth the 99 cents. Carly, Carly, keep singing and doing music and please tell us who this mystery “David” person is when he is gone on or you are. I hope I’m still here to learn who this was about and maybe why she kept this a secret so long.

If I had a leer jet in 1973, I’d throw my name in the hat just for fun