The album included Simon's first Top 10 hit, "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be", a somber ballad centered on a woman pondering marriage with a sense of both inevitability and entrapment; the song was written by Simon and collaborator Jacob Brackman. The album features material written by Simon, with additional writing by Brackman, Kramer, and Freddy Gardner. The album also features covers of songs by Mark Klingman and Buzzy Linhart.
Nobody Does It Better (1977)
The last of the classic Bond themes – and “the sexiest song ever written”, according to pop’s legendary king of raunch, Thom Yorke from Radiohead – Nobody Does It Better is an incredible piece of songcraft, its impact amplified by the fact that Simon sings it with total lust-wracked conviction. (Guardian)
Coming Around Again (1987)
Coming Around Again became a Mellow Magic FM perennial, but beneath the super-smooth MOR production lurks a fabulous, genuinely moving song that tackles a subject pop tends to shy away from – the stresses of maintaining a longstanding relationship amid the chaos of parenthood – without succumbing to syrup or schmaltz.
You’re So Vain (1972)
If Carly Simon had never written anything other than You’re So Vain, she would still be famous. It has spawned nearly 50 years of speculation over its subject, but no one would have been interested in who it was about if it wasn’t such an incredible song. Everything is perfect – the atmospheric, attention-grabbing intro; its balance of wordy intelligence and pop smarts; Paul Buckmaster’s superb string arrangement; the flatly brilliant conceit of the chorus; the cocktail of waspishness and affection in the lyrics, which leave you simultaneously horrified by its subject’s smug, philandering bullshit and weirdly impressed despite yourself. (Guardian)
