CARLY SIMON RETURNS TO MURRAY HILL MUSIC ROOTS

In 1969, singer-songwriter Carly Simon was living and composing music in a sixth-floor apartment about a thousand feet west of St. Vartan (then St. Gabriel’s) Park. She was trying to land her first record deal as a solo artist.

That year in the residence, Simon composed 'That's the Way I've Aways Heard It Should Be,' which would become her first solo single two years later.

"The rooms connected fancifully," Simon writes of her leased apartment located on East 35th Street west of Third Avenue. "The dining room, which combined a kitchen and dining room, was separated by a wicker divider and decorated to resemble an outdoor garden. Vines of all shapes and sizes snaked around the room, which was so small it could accommodate only the three-and-a-half-foot round dining table that the owners had left behind... Though small, the apartment nonetheless managed to seem large and, somehow, central." 

Before she moved out in 1974, Simon scored a record deal from Elektra owner-producer Jac Holzman, won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and released a string of hit records. Simon appears above in 1970, at the corner of 35th and Lexington near her apartment, on her way to a recording session for her first album (aside a shot of the same location on July 24, 2023.

This summer — on September 15, Holzman's 92nd birthday — Simon, who turned 80 last month, will return to her Murray Hill roots with the release of 'These Are the Good Old Days: The Carly Simon and Jac Holzman Story' album and booklet.

After Elektra staff listened to a five-song demo cassette from Simon in 1970, the group voted to pass on the artist. But Holzman, present during the listening session, uncharacteristically vetoed the decision.

The Holzman-Simon partnership lasted from 1970 to 1972, which resulted in Simon's first three albums and such hits as her No. 1 'You're So Vain' and 'Anticipation.' The booklet will include new interviews with Simon and Holzman.

One of Simon's Holzman memories is a phone call she took from the Elektra boss in March 1971, a month after her first album came out. Simon was in her Murray Hill kitchen. She didn't have a manager. She had never performed live as a solo artist, but Holzman asked her if she could open for Cat Stevens three weeks later at the legendary Troubadour club in West Hollywood. 

"I froze," recalls Simon. "I had no interest or intention of performing live by myself... my incipient fear of flying was only increased by what I would be flying to do. I wanted to hang up." Holzman convinced her to take a chance. At the Troubadour, Simon received a standing ovation, and her career was off and sprinting. 

A year later in a small service in the Murray Hill apartment, Simon wed recording star James Taylor, who had moved into the five-room residence. Simon and Taylor have two children from their 11-year marriage. 

The couple recorded their hit duet 'Mockingbird' during their Murray Hill years. Simon has long appreciated birds. Indeed, a winged visitor to a window at her 35th Street apartment in 1970 convinced her to start writing her tune 'Songbird.' The bird also provided further artistry.

"I’d try to get melodies from its singing," remembers Simon. "You couldn’t do better than a bird."Nearly 40 years of persistence can make a huge difference. 

 
Donate