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A love song to an American icon: the first full-length biography of Carly Simon, from an acclaimed music journalist who has known her for decades
Carly Simon has won two Grammys and an Academy Award, and her albums have sold more than forty million copies. She has touched countless lives and is considered an icon in 1970s music, yet her own life story has remained a mystery. Tapping private archives, family interviews, and a forty-year friendship with the legend herself, Stephen Davis at last captures Carly Simon’s extraordinary journey from shy teenager to superstar, covering everything her fans want to know, including:
Along the way, Davis vividly takes readers back to some of the most powerful eras in American music history and delivers a tribute worthy of the artist. The updated paperback edition includes two brand-new photos, as well as a note to the reader and selected sources.
Introduction 11
Part I
Lady of Spain 25
The Pianist 30
Mrs. Simon and Schuster 36
Summertime 40
Behind Closed Doors 46
The Artful Dodger 52
Idylls of Stamford 57
The Ronnie Material 65
All Shook Up 72
High School Musical 79
A Death in the Family 87
Carly Cares 94
Ambition and the Dylan Energy 100
The Simon Sisters 105
Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod 114
Hootenanny Saturday Night 121
Carly and the Vandellas 128
Swinging London 135
The Female Bob Dylan 142
Indian Hill 151
Play with Me 156
Fear of Flying 164
Part II
A Girl Called Elektra 175
Electric Lady 179
That's the Way I Always Heard It Should Be 188
Setting Yourself on Fire 196
The Troubadour 204
Silver-tongued Devil 214
Sticky Fingers 221
How About Tonight? 229
Poor Moose 238
Apple Corps 246
Rain and Fire 253
"Love from Carly" 263
Best New Artist 269
On Beaver Pond 277
Son of a Gun 283
Don't Let Me Be Lonely 317
A Piece of Ass A State of Grace 322
Hotcakes 328
Mockingbird 336
Slave 341
Where's Carly? 351
Another Passenger 357
The Spy Who Loved Me 365
Things We Said Today 375
Why'd You Tell Me This? 382
The Gorilla in the Room 388
We're So Close 398
Hot Tin Roof 406
Stardust 416
Blood Everywhere 425
Forever Locked Inside 434
JimNMA
Posted January 10, 2012
DO NOT buy this book thinking that it is a true biography or has Carly's approval in any way or form.
Please be aware that this is NOT a authorized biography of Carly Simon. Carly had NO input to this book and is furious and upset with the untrue picture Davis paints of her within.
The book is a collection of uncredited quotes from other sources. The author did little original research of his own - what is the author's own actual contributions are fabrications. He additionally "borrowed" freely from other sources. Authors Sheila Weller (Girls Like Us) and Roger Friedman have both blogged about their concern and unhappiness that their researched and published works have been quoted in this book without citation.
The author did not interview Carly Simon, her family, nor her friends or ANY musicians or producers Carly has worked with over the 40+ years of her career.
12 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.beadbabe
Posted January 10, 2012
If you are an intelligent reader, one who expects the truth when you read non fiction, expecially biography's, then this book is not for you. If however you are a reader of the tabloids, with speculations and innuendo's and at times out right lies, then you might want to take this out of the library- but don't waste your money on this garbage. There are serious allegations of plagerism with this book, direct pieces were taken from Girls Like Us, without any credit given to the author. Carly Simon is on record as saying she did not cooperate in any way, despite the twaddle that the author is spewing- indicating that she was on board. Girls Like Us is a much more honest and accurate read.
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.CaliRoberts
Posted January 10, 2012
This is a quick and dirty "copy and paste" job from prior books and articles, infused with Davis' inane and mostly derogatory observations of Carly, her music, and the men she's been involved with. If you want to read a bio about Carly Simon, this is NOT the book to buy. Get the best-selling (about to be made into a movie) Girls Like Us instead. Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--and the Journey of a Generation Stephen Davis chose not to interview Carly or anyone close to her, even though he had access to do so. Carly Simon has had an incredibly rich and eventful life. Sadly, Mr. Davis manages to make her life story boring. Carly is never developed as a character. She exists only to stutter, write songs and screw men. There is also a very distinct mean-spirited tone to this book. You get the feeling that the author doesn't even like Carly or her music. There is a sense of purposeful belittlement attributed to the men in Carly's life. The author seems to go out of his way to vilify them, for no apparent reason. To purposely put in print lies that serve no purpose in enriching or elaborating on Carly's story, other than to attempt to humiliate these men from her past, makes the reader wonder what is this about? Does Mr. Davis have some score to settle with these men??? It's strange. There is no bibliography because Mr. Davis can't prove where he got his quotes or information. Why? I believe it's because he makes up so much of this book. He certainly takes liberty with quotes that Carly's given in the past. He changes them by adding words to them, so that they now sound nothing like Carly Simon. But he still uses quotation marks, as if these words came from Carly herself. It's quite disconcerting and only serves to undermine the legitimacy of any information in this book. There are many examples of stories he makes up out of thin air. Here is just one: He writes that in the Spring of 1979, John Travolta meets Carly and they become friends. "When his longtime girlfriend, Diana Hyland, died a few weeks later, Travolta practically moved in with Carly and the children." That's really interesting, because Diana Hyland died on 3/27/77 - two full years before the Spring of 1979. The date isn't a misprint, the rest of the chapter is based in 1979. How much of his other stories are untrue? I counted dozens that were just as fictional. Mr. Davis also takes it upon himself to describe each of Carly's songs, and the results are often times (unintentionally) hilarious. Here is what he honestly believes her hit song Jesse is about: "a song about a woman's ambivalent feelings for an incontinent lover who wets the bed and needs fresh sheets.....by the end of the lyrics, she decides to put fresh sheets on the bed." It's very sad that writers can write anything they want about a celebrity. It doesn't have to be true. They are public figures and they just have to take it. Fortunately, we don't have to read it or believe it, and we especially shouldn't reward this type of pseudo-journalism by buying it. I feel sure this book will die an early death, and I won't waste time to go to the funeral. I've wasted enough time reading this poor excuse of a bio.
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.DH127
Posted January 11, 2012
This is an UNauthorized, UNtrue book that is not endorsed by Carly Simon. Do not be misled by the photos in the book that were taken by her brother. It is a poorly written fabrication of a beloved artist who deserves so much more respect than is conveyed in this nonsense of a so-called "biography". If you are a Carly Simon fan, there is nothing much new or true for you here. Just re-hashed articles taken from other writers and some mean-spirited treatment of Carly and others who have known her by Davis. This is nothing but a sensationalized tabloid article grappling for your cash. Do yourself a favor and save your money. Instead, if you feel you need a new "Carly fix", why not pick up a Carly CD that might be missing from your collection and support the woman that you admire, not the man who wrote this drivel.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 24, 2012
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Posted February 15, 2012
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Posted September 19, 2012
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Overview
A love song to an American icon: the first full-length biography of Carly Simon, from an acclaimed music journalist who has known her for decades
Carly Simon has won two Grammys and an Academy Award, and her albums have sold more than forty million copies. She has touched countless lives and is considered an icon in 1970s music, yet her own life story has remained a mystery. Tapping private archives, family interviews, and a forty-year friendship with the legend herself, Stephen...