Blogs and Stories
How I Found My Voice
Nick told me that not only was it something he didn’t love me in spite of, but, matter of fact, because of.
Long pause, I straightened up. Composure? Almost. Still crying, he reached for me and held me. He told me he thought it was “charming.”
Charming?????? That was completely alien a thought to me. But acceptance was the key. I had spent 10 years trying urgently to hide it. Now, it was sexy. How do you like that? He loved away my stutter. Most of it anyway, the part that was most awful. All of a sudden, I was exotic, different in a positive way. I was eccentric, artistic.
As an adult, I have heard people affecting a stammer or a stutter. The Brits consider it a “class thing.” I guess if you wait long enough your handicap might come into vogue.
Now, when I’m tired, or certainly when I’m nervous, or sometime for no apparent reason, “it” resumes its old force. I forget then the time when it was so “charming.”
I still can’t read aloud. Having to read something verbatim, such as lines in a script, would still likely jeopardize the scene and cause me to flush. But mostly my stutter can be worked around. I made up stories for my children in the dark. They loved them. They were made of words I could say at that particular time. In my own time and the words I could make a decision about substituting or not. My reading was still, and as I said, is still halting and unconvincing. Also, I learned that singing was a big, big, big relief. So, after many years, it was becoming more and more clear:
I would be a singer.
The American Institute for Stuttering gala will be held on Monday, June 8. For more information, visit their website.
Carly Simon is a Grammy- and Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter, whose most recently CD is This Kind of Love. She will be featured on the CD Listen: Songs Written by Children Who Stutter to be released on June 23.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
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Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
what a delightful lyrical anecdote......more.....please
Hi Carly, disabilities... interesting... although I always thought that your "disability" was coming from a wealthy family, and never knowing true hardship.
Thank you for sharing your story in such a beautiful way and thank goodness for Nick.
Great story and am glad she found her voice so that the whole world could hear her.
Yes, and a wonderful singer you are. You're not a too bad a writer either.
Carly Simon.
So many wonderful songs.
Thank You!
(Who WAS so vain?! - James Taylor, Warren Beatty, or Mick Jagger?)
What a delightful education , youth , exuberance for life ! Thanks to you many good and warm memories have new days to live! COOL BEANS to be alive at this time . Love You !
Lovely, Carly! I love your writing. This very important stuff. Thank you for caring enough to share with us!
Beautifully written, and one of the things I've always loved about your singing is that I can understand all of the words. Your enunication is excellent!
what she said
Wonderful story and reminder we are all a little broken but still have a song to sing. Love your work.
Just an incredible story. Particularly when you consider that she's one of the few who has weathered the music industry for 30 years and her songs are still timeless favorites. Really a "WOW" person, who was already a WOW anyway!
What a gift for us fans! You paint pictures with your words.
Ever thought about writing a book?--novel? autobiography?
Carly Simon, you truly come a long way. Your songs are of true comfort and it makes you feel at ease. Beautiful essay of words that speak about something so real. Your words are true and special, but your encouragement is even stronger and fullfilling. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful essay. I pray to God that you become stronger each day and that you soon feel better. God bless you Carly Simon. GBY and your family. ;) Liz Aviles
love you Carly, please write more.
xoxo
n
You seem to have triumphed over your handicap, in spades!!! Thank you, so much, for sharing your story with everyone and in such a fun and exciting way.
I think you are amazing ,beautiful and talented .
I can't go a day without listening to your music.
I really hope you write an autobiography someday Carly.
xoxo,
Nick
It's time to write the book.
As an excruciately self-conscious Riverdale girl a few years behind you, I always thought you were golden -- now, even more so. Beautifully remembered and written, and -- more importantly -- shared.
Wow Carly you are a great writer. Not surprising considering your considerable gift with lyrics. I would love to read a book written by you - fiction, non-fiction, anything.
Thanks for many years of sharing your voice and music with the world.
San Diego Diane
from a broken mirror i can see a beautiful mosaic that was not planned or wanted,but nevertheless reflects a shattered,original beauty that was not planned either..............................
Thank you.
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