The Photo That Changed My Life

FIRST-PERSON

CARLY SIMON

The celebrated singer-songwriter—and author, with a new memoir, Boys in the Trees— identifies a picture that sums up the Simon sisterhood

"My sisters drew me into music at the age of five. Like little von Trapps, Lucy and I surrounded the eldest at the piano: Joey. She had taken lessons and could read those black dots on the two rows of five lines each. Those were, and remain, something of a mystery to me. Joey (Joanna) was used to being the queen, and the queen she stayed. She borrowed sheet music from the school library and had excellent taste—and our voices suited the parts on the sheets. Lucy, the middle sister, with a very high voice, carried the melody like an angel. Joey was a perfect mezzo-soprano and sang the alto parts (eventually becoming a world-famous opera singer). Just by chance, I had a husky and very low voice. My husk spread over their clearer tones like fog muting the sharp edges of a cityscape. It was 'good to be the glue,' Joey told me. I went with it. Oh, what a trio we were.

"Lucy and I, high and low, went on to become a college sister act—the Simon Sisters. And one of Lucy's songs, 'Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod,' appears on my new album, Songs from the Trees, a companion to my memoir. Maybe it wasn't just luck that our father was a terrific photographer who could so very personally witness this moment of origin: the first lesson from our eldest sister in the joys of harmony."

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