For years there has been debate about which of Carly Simon's ex-boyfriends could have inspired the hit song You're So Vain.

But while former lovers Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson, Cat Stevens and Warren Beatty were left wondering whether 'this song is about you', they have been proved wrong.

For the Seventies singer has finally revealed the real inspiration behind her hit track wasn't a boyfriend at all - it was openly gay record producer David Geffen.

Revelation: After 38 years, Seventies singer Carly Simon has revealed that openly gay record producer David Geffen inspired her hit You're So Vain

Simon, 64, ended the 38 year guessing game by whispering the name backwards on a reworked version of the song for her new album Never Been Gone, out next week.

Previously Simon had always claimed the song was a 'composite' of people she knew.

In 1972 when she wrote the song billionaire Geffen was the head of her Elektra record label.

It is thought she was inspired to write the damning lyrics after Geffen put all his time and energy into promoting her rival, Joni Mitchell, over her.

In the hit Simon sings that the man walked into the party like he was walking on to a yacht.

The subject of her wrath jilted her before going to Saratoga to watch his horse naturally win.

Beatty is said to have been convinced he was the inspiration behind the song.

Other suspects included Jagger, who sang backing vocals for the original song, and James Taylor, the American songwriter to whom Simon was married between 1972 and 1983.

This song's not about you....

Not so vain: Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger and actor Kris Kristofferson

And not about you: Singer Cat Stevens and actor Warren Beatty