Carly Simon Brings Passionate Memoir to Life at New York ... · Carly Simon: New Song Came To Be...

4/16/2017 Carly Simon Brings Passionate Memoir to Life at New York Discussion - Inspirer

http://inspirer.life/home/2016/11/carly-simon-brings-passionate-memoir-to-life-at-new-york-discussion/ 1/8

¬ ŧ �

CARLY SIMON BRINGS PASSIONATE MEMOIR

TO LIFE AT NEW YORK DISCUSSION

EVENTS

by : CARRIE COUROGEN | 5 MONTHS AGO | 390 VIEWS



SHARE ¬ Ø Õ Ŭ Ɨ �

Share:

26

If you couldn’t guess from her lyrics, you would immediately be able to tell

from the eloquence, candor, and unabashed honesty of Carly Simon’s

speech that, if you hadn’t yet read her memoir “Boys in the Trees,” you were

in for a ride.

Simon brought her new book to life Wednesday night in discussion with

author and journalist Sheila Weller, who had previously written about

Simon in her 2008 biography “Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly

Simon — and the Journey of a Generation.”

“Few women writers in any genre write as passionately about love as you

do,” Weller noted. Simon is part of a small group of female rock stars who

have paved the way for women today, spending the past forty years

writing, singing, and talking publicly about love — and sex — openly, freely,

and with a refusal to let society shame them. “Boys in the Trees” is an

extension of that, picking up where her lyrics left o�.

“I am not a person who lets go of the past easily,” Simon said. But there’s no

bitterness or regret when she re�ects on it, from a childhood marred by a

debilitating stammer and family secrets to a storybook marriage dreamed

of with ex-husband James Taylor crumbling under the strain of his drug

addiction.

Nor was there any salaciousness when Simon spoke at length about the

famous men in her life, including Warren Beatty and Mick Jagger, as well

as Taylor, leaving the audience hanging onto every velvety smooth word.

Rather, Simon’s seduction of an audience lies in her ability to speak and

write from a sensitive, vulnerable, and deeply caring woman’s perspective.



Every word, every description drips with poetic romanticism. Chemistry

with Mick Jagger while recording “You’re So Vain” was like “trying to stay

within a pink gravity that was starting to loosen its silky grip on me.” She

likens her relationship with Taylor to music, like they were a perfect fourth,

the reedy tone of his voice piercing through her husk. Even after the end of

their marriage, he still has a place in her heart, she said, as if her body

contains a part of his DNA. Her biggest revelation: “I’ve stopped trying to

stop loving. The parts that were loving are still in me. They’re still there.”

Although “Boys in the Trees” is largely about her relationships with men,

there’s more to it than that.

“Pay attention to who you like. You can imitate them — you’ll get your own

voice,” Simon advised young women. No, “Boys in the Trees” isn’t a story

just about the boys. It’s a story about how one woman stopped emulating

other voices and eventually found her own.

Boys in the Trees is available in hardcover or paperback from Flatiron

Books.

Keep up with Carly Simon on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Carly Simon: New Song Came To Be After A Fight With Son | TODAY



Share:

Comments

0 comments

TAGS : BOYS IN THE TREES . CARLY SIMON . CLASSIC ROCK . FEMINISM . INSPIRATIONAL

WOMEN . JAMES TAYLOR . LADY HERO . MEMOIR . MICK JAGGER . MUSIC . MUSICIAN . ROCK AND

ROLL . SINGER . SINGER/SONGWRITER . SONGWRITER . WARREN BEATTY . WOMEN IN MUSIC

26

Like this:

Like

Be the first to like this.

:

Related

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame –

Induct These Women: Carly

Simon

Chely Wright on Coming

Out, LIKEME Lighthouse,

and Her Upcoming Album "I

Am The Rain"

Chrissie Hynde: You Can't

Label the Lead Pretender

January 13, 2017

In "Induct These Women

Series"

May 31, 2016

In "Women in Music -

Interviews"

March 24, 2017

In "Entertainment"

0 Comments Sort by

Facebook Comments Plugin

Oldest

Add a comment...



Carrie Courogen

Carrie is a writer and social media manager for Condé Nast Entertainment in

New York. Her writing has been featured in print and online for publications like

Quartz, Teen Vogue, The Hu�ngton Post, Bustle, and the New York Daily News,

among others. Additionally, she maintains a Tumblr where she muses on things

like millennial issues, music, and, most of all, lady heroes.

Ą P R E V I O U S A R T I C L E

WOMEN AND VINYL RECORDSN E X T A R T I C L E ą

THE REINVENTION OF STEVIE NICKS: THE 24 KARAT GOLD TOUR

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE



INSPIRER PRINT ISSUE



LIKE

FOLLOW

FOLLOW

14763 Fans

¬ 5369 Followers

ŧ 13262 Followers

You and 25 other friends like this

Inspirer14,805 likes

Liked Learn More

123

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

STAY CONNECTED WITH US

NEWSLETTER

INDUCT THESE WOMEN SERIES



3456

LATEST EXCLUSIVES

FOLLOW INSPIRER ON INSTAGRAM

Carly Simon Brings Passionate Memoir to Life at New York ... · Carly Simon: New Song Came To Be...

Documents

Transcript of Carly Simon Brings Passionate Memoir to Life at New York ... · Carly Simon: New Song Came To Be...