Suppergiù in quarter of a century before Sabrina Carpenter was born, Carly Simon was in the New York department store. He had just released the fifth album Playing Possum and tried to replicate the success of You're so vain, Haven't Got time for the Pain And Anticipation with the individual Attitude dancing. A woman approached her. He had seen the cover of Playing Possum. “He said to me:” But what did you think of you? ” We quarreled ».
A couple of weeks ago Carpenter revealed the now infamous cover of his next album Man's best friend in which she is portrayed on its knees with a hand stretched towards what looks like a male figure who grabs her hair. The cover has aroused rather animated discussions on the meaning of the photo: is it a symbol of brave and conscious female emancipation or is it simply a validation of the male point of view?
It is not the first time that a pop star has a similar pose on the cover and Carly Simon knows it well. Released in 1975, Playing Possum contained a couple of songs with winking titles such as Are you ticklish And Love out in the streetbut the most provocative thing was on the cover, a black and white photo with Simon on their knees, strong and mysterious in négligé and black boots, the narrow fists, the partially hidden face, the mouth visibly open. The shot of the photographer Norman Seeff was the opposite of the one chosen for the cover of the previous one Hotcakes who showed the smiling and visibly pregnant singer. “I remember thinking: if it works, the cover will make people understand that I have returned in shape.”
Instead, fans and feminists did not understand and indeed they started to discuss it. As reported at the time by Rolling Stonethe Sears department store chain took into consideration the idea of not selling the disc. The countercultural magazine Crawdaddy He has published a review focused on the analysis of the cover instead of music. The shot became so memorable that the négligé that Simon wore was exposed to the exhibition dedicated to her when three years ago entered the rock and roll hall of hunger.
Considered the contrast between the covers of Playing Possum And Hotcakesit is ironic that the story begins with Simon's daughter, Sally, who a few months old is in a baby door on the shoulders of the mother who shops by Bloomingdale. “I was shooting in the underwear department and she bent with me as I bent to look at something,” says Simon, remembering that the daughter grabbed the black dress and slipped it into the baby door. “At the case they didn't notice it.” At the time the anti -shoplifting plates were not applied to clothes.
When Simon arrived at the Seeff photographic studio in Los Angeles for the service, under the skirt and the blouse he wore the head of clothing stolen from the little girl. It was in the dressing room that he was holding after the shooting when someone put on Theme From Shaft by Isaac Hayes. “I liked that piece a lot, I ran out and started dancing.” Seeff took more photos while she sang, in black lingerie, ending up lying on the back, and then pulling up. «It was at that moment that Norman took the photo. It was not made of this purpose, it was not a studied thing ».
When the photos were developed, one in particular liked it in Seeff. “That shot had a special energy,” explains the photographer. «The head is cut, she is moving getting up from the ground, she has closed fists. Nobody thought what he could evoke. It was a fascinating, unique image and left room for imagination ».
Simon was not sure of the choice at the beginning, but he then recreated. “There is something in black and white photos that immediately makes them seem artistic, even if as in this case they are not on purpose”.
According to Simon, the initial feedback he received from the then husband James Taylor and his manufacturer, the late Richard Perry, was positive. And so, all proud, he showed the photo to Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash on the occasion of a birthday party that he had organized for Taylor in Los Angeles, just before the album release. “They all saw her and certainly aroused reactions, but nobody told me that she really thought about it.”
The strongest reactions came when Playing Possum He arrived in the shops. “What do you say: is it good to erase the image of the future sweet and radiant mother on the cover of her previous album?” Wrote a critic. Another wondered if there was a whisk combined with the dress. Simon recalls that even his mother, the civil rights activist Andrea Louise Heinemann, asked her: “Carly, honey, but what are you doing?”.
“Suddenly I receive calls from Time And Newsweek who tell me it's one of the sexiest covers ever seen, “recalls Seeff. «Thus a controversy is unleashed on what that image represents. It seemed to me to capture the energy of a woman and I simply saw her as a beautiful shot. There was no intention to touch certain topics. ” However, the debate has not compromised sales: Playing Possum It became Simon's third album to enter the top 10.
The cover of Man's best friend by Sabrina Carpenter is certainly not a tribute to Playing Possumbut Simon has been mentioned several times by modern pop stars. Both Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo have made cover of You're so vain live, while Addison Rae spoke in an interview with Boys in the Trees. “I like the fact that the younger girls are discovering me,” she says.
Speaking of Carpenter, Carly Simon does not see the reason for a lot of noise around the cover of Man's best friend. «It is not doing anything scandalous, there have been much more daring covers. One of the most shocking I saw is that of Sticky Fingers of the Rolling Stones. It was a work outside the box, at the level of sexual attitude. So I don't understand why Sabrina is the subject of many criticisms ».
Simon has not released an album since 2009, but for about ten years he has been working occasionally at new music. Among the songs, many of which produced by his son Ben, there is one named Howl With Nile Rodgers on guitar and Chris Stills, Son of Stephen, on the voice. “It's a kind of Revenge Song: Talk about taking revenge on someone or, in this case, a lot of people. It is not sweet at all, it is quite aggressive and strong ». He also wrote a piece about his daughter Sally, Mother of Pearland another, Do it Anywaywhich defines “a kind of motivational song, like: if you think you don't do it, do it anyway”. Pity the Poor Man Instead, she was written with Natasha Bedingfield and Simon also put in music a poem by WH Auden.
Which form will take the pieces is all to see. “I didn't record them as part of an album. I engraved a song here and one there. We have ten songs, which are equivalent to a record, but now they no longer publish it, so we will make them come out one at a time ».
Since this is not a real album, Simon is not thinking about the cover. But he has advice for Carpenter: «Just talk about you, so I wouldn't worry about the press. I don't think he wanted to be provocative. I mean, there are a lot of people who dress in a decidedly more succinct way. She is beautiful and must be proud of herself and her appearance. I don't see anything about bad. “
And then, giving one last look at the cover of Man's best friend: “I thought it was a little exaggerated to touch man's knee,” he says with a laugh. “Here, maybe that could not do it.”
From Rolling Stone Us.
