You Belong To Me – Carly Simon | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#6); 1978
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Carly followed-up Anticipation with You’re So Vain (#1; 1973) and Mockingbird (#5; 1974), the latter a duet with hubby James Taylor. Although her Top 40 singles hit streak slowed somewhat over the next few years, Carly maintained a high-profile presence on FM album rock radio, and her albums posted strong sales.
1976’s Best Of collection racked up triple platinum figures, helped along by her starring soundtrack role in the James Bond flick, The Spy Who Loved Me, for which she sang Nobody Does It Better.
Nobody spent seven weeks atop the Adult Contemporary list and three weeks at #2 on the Hot 100. Carly posted back-to-back Top 10’s for the first time in her career with the success of her next single, You Belong To Me.
Like 1976’s It Keeps You Runnin’, originally recorded by the Doobie Brothers, You Belong To Me was first released by the Doobies. Written by Doobie Michael McDonald and Carly, it also featured James Taylor on backing vocal.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Carly Simon
- Michael McDonald
Lyrics Written by:
- Arif Mardin
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).