More than 50 years ago, Sally Taylor’s mother penned a song about a self-obsessed person taking a plane straight to Nova Scotia to see a solar eclipse; a few months ago, Taylor made a similar journey, arriving in time for a different eclipse.
Taylor’s mother is Carly Simon, singer of the 1972 hit “You’re So Vain,” which contains the line, “Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia/To see the total eclipse of the sun.”
“I thought, like, OK, Nova Scotia has got to be the coolest place on the planet, which I’m sure set a seed as a child in my head that someday I might be as fortunate as the Learjet man to end up in Nova Scotia,” Taylor said. “And here I am.”
Taylor now lives in Halifax and recently researched the upcoming eclipse, learning it will happen on Monday.
“And I think, what? I got here just in time for the total eclipse of the sun,” she said. “Immediately I call my mom and I’m like, are you kidding me?”
Simon, 79, told CTV News Atlantic over the phone she hasn’t been to Nova Scotia, but she drew inspiration from true events.
“I read about it somewhere in some paper that he followed his trip to Saratoga by going up to Nova Scotia,” she said.
As for the identity of the person in “You’re So Vain?”
“Oh, don’t be silly,” Simon said with a laugh when asked. “You know I can’t answer that.”
Taylor said she plans to take in the solar eclipse while playing her mother’s song on repeat.
“I’m really hoping that everybody comes out and enjoys the solar eclipse and remembers Learjets and Carly Simon, and just recognize what a special event it is,” she said. “Maybe it’ll inspire them to write a song? Hopefully it will.”
