Jesse

In this song, Jesse, one of Carly Simon's ex-lovers, is coming back to town, and she's getting prepared. He broke her heart, and she knows he'll do it again if she lets him. Simon enlists her friends and family for support, and prepares a speech to let him know where he stands. That's the chorus of the song, which contains Simon's trademark imagery, letting Jesse know all the things she won't be doing for him: Cut fresh flowers Chill the wine Change the sheets Put on cologne Sit by the phone But midway through the song, the plan goes out the window; she just can't resist his charms. "Jesse, I'll always cut fresh flowers for you," Simon tells him.

Unlike her 1972 hit "You're So Vain," Jesse doesn't seem to be about a real person, and Simon hasn't attributed it to anyone in particular. In real life, she had been married to James Taylor for eight years but the bloom was off the rose and they were headed for divorce. He doesn't fit the description of Jesse, but traces of him may have crept into the lyrics.

"Jesse" is a great name to sing, so it's over-represented in songs. The first hit with that name was Roberta Flack's cover of Janis Ian's "Jesse," which went to #30 in 1973. Carly Simon's "Jesse" went to #11 at the end of 1980 and was followed the next year by "Jessie's Girl," a #1 hit for Rick Springfield (the name can refer to either a boy or a girl and came be spelled different ways). Other popular songs to use the name include "Jessie" by Joshua Kadison, "Just Like Jesse James" by Cher, and "Dear Jessie" by Madonna.