In an exclusive revelation, Carly Simon provides a heartfelt glimpse into the effects her divorce from James Taylor had on their children, Sally and Ben, through an emotional new track, as reported by Page Six.
Titled “Comes in Waves,” Simon’s eagerly anticipated new album, which releases this Friday, includes “Mother of Pearl” as its fifth track, offering deep insights through its lyrics.
Simon poignantly sings, “I can see you at 7, a child of divorce. How can it be that we gave you no choice? / It was your job and Ben’s to drown out all the noise,” touching on the childhood challenges her children faced.
She further acknowledges her daughter Sally’s remarkable resilience during those challenging times.
In her lyrics, Simon praises her daughter, singing, “But my girl, oh my girl. / Even then you were shining, you were my mother of pearl.”
The song begins with Simon calling out her daughter by name. (She was born Sarah Maria Taylor, but goes by the nickname Sally.
“Sally, oh, Sarah, another song with your name,” she sings. “You’ve gone around the roses, a mustang became. / A boat in the harbor that’s called Sally Mae. / And oh girl, my girl, to me you’re my goddess, you’re my mother of pearl.”
Simon sweetly describes Sally’s Capricorn tendencies, calling her “stubborn” and “not sure when to care.”
“But when I been flat on my back, you’re still there,” she sings. “And oh girl, oh my girl, to me, you’re my best friend, my mother of pearl.”
The “You’re So Vain” singer married Taylor in 1972, but the pair divorced in 1983 amid his addiction issues and infidelity on both sides. They welcomed Sally, 52, and Ben, 49, in 1974 and 1977, respectively.
In the new album’s second track, “Maybe I Never Loved You,” Simon seemingly takes a brutal swipe at her estranged ex-husband, though she never mentions him by name.
“Maybe I never loved you / But anyway, I thought I did,” Simon sings in the song. “I married you, we had a kid / That counts for something.”
“Maybe I never loved you / Yes, and maybe I did,” she adds. “And maybe you never loved me / Although God knows, you said you did.”
The tune ends with Simon voicing her desire to make amends with Taylor and continues to question whether there was love between them.
“And maybe it’s best to bury whatever it was we had our fill of,” she sings. “Maybe I never loved you / Maybe I always will.”
The Grammy-winning artist previously shared that she still loves James despite not being on speaking terms.
“I still want to heal him, I still want to make him all right,” she told People in 2015. “And I love him so much.”
Simon also admitted that she did not know why Taylor would not speak with her.
That same year, the singer-songwriter wrote a tell-all memoir, “Boys in the Trees,” in which she described their marriage as “far from the idyllic one that the general public reads about.”
Simon has since moved on with longtime partner Richard Koehler. She was also married to James Hart from 1987 to 2007.
Outside of her long-term relationships, she was linked to several famous men, including Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger, Cat Stevens and Warren Beatty — the latter of whom is the subject of her brutal 1972 hit, “You’re So Vain.”
Simon’s new album — her first collection of original songs in 18 years — features 12 powerful songs, which she wrote and recorded from her home in Martha’s Vineyard in collaboration with her two children.
The musician revealed last month that she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and skin cancer.
“Working on the music gave shape to days that did not always have much shape,” she wrote in a statement in July, referring to her new album. “It gave me somewhere to go without having to leave the room. It reminded me that illness can change your life without becoming the whole of your life.”
“Comes in Waves” releases this Friday.