Sometimes a faux pas pays off. Hit Men guitarist Jimmy Ryan made one himself, touring with Carly Simon, and told us the story.

I’m with Carly Simon, we’re doing our second gig at the Troubadour in LA, and it’s a star-studded event. James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Candice Bergen were in the audience, maybe Elton John. Carly was absolutely petrified to go on stage, but she kept her cool.

We’re about to go on, and there’s a knock on the dressing room door, I open the door, and there’s this guy in one of those flammable rayon shirts with a huge collar; this is a ’70s, so this is semi-appropriate. He’s got big, thick glasses and is just nerdy looking, and he says, “I’d like to see Carly.” I told him we’re about to go on, and he repeated, “But I’d like to talk to her.”  I said, “Dude, no, we’re about to go on.” He got really pushy, and I shut the door and his face. I turned around, and there’s Carly, with her hand over her mouth. “What?”

She says, “Oh my God. Do you know who you just slammed the door in his face?”

I said, “I think you’re about to tell me.”

“That was Warren Beatty.”

I didn’t recognize him, not at all. I would have recognized Shirley MacLaine, but I didn’t know any of his movies, which were very few in 1972.  I start to go running after him, and she says, “No! That was perfect! That’s just what he needs.”

It is my belief that that’s where the idea for “You’re So Vain” came from. She’ll never admit it, it is a guarded secret. A lot of people ask me if it wast Mick Jagger, but that was before she met Jagger.

Today, the Hit Men connect with audiences on a level rarely seen by today’s musical artists; they play interactive sets of music from rock and roll history that are also their personal histories, because these men recorded the music. A short list of acts the band’s members have performed and recorded with: Blood Sweat & Tears, Johnny Winter, Cheap Trick, Lou Reed, Dr. John, Vanilla Fudge, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sting, the Ramones, LL Cool J, Luther Vandross, Korn, Paula Abdul, Jack Bruce, Eric Burdon and the Animals, Dave Mason, Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, the Turtles, Gary Puckett, Mitch Ryder, Barry Manilow, Tony Orlando, Tommy James, the Four Seasons, and (drumroll) Sesame Street.