You're So Vain

You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you.” And that’s the chorus of one of 1972’s top songs, “You’re So Vain.” Carly Simon’s signature song about a totally self-absorbed lover ranks as one of Billboard’s Greatest Songs of All Time. For over thirty years the media has speculated about who the lover was, but Simon kept his identity secret. Even Simon’s then-famous close male friends wonder, “Is it about ME?”

In our last three blogs we’ve seen the villainous Haman also thinking, “I bet this song is about ME”—but for a very different reason. Remember his invitation to a party by Queen Esther?

Haman brags to his friends and family about his wealth and “all the ways the King elevated him above all the nobles and officials and now I’m the ONLY one invited to the party with the King!” I’m important can’t you see? Like Simon’s lyrics, Haman is caught up in himself, “having one eye in the mirror as you think all the girls dream you’d be their boyfriend.”

Haman lives for more success, more applause, more fame, more wealth. When you’re living for yourself there’s never enough. You can’t ‘get no satisfaction’ no matter how hard you try. Haman’s happiness with the exclusive invite turns to infuriation when once again that Jewish palace employee, Mordecai, refuses to bow down when Haman passes by.

Haman tells his wife and friends who promptly advise him to build a gallows and ask the King to hang Mordecai. Great idea, glad I thought of it. That very night . . .


King Xerxes can’t sleep, so his servant reads the Chronicles of his reign to him. While listening to stories about himself, Xerxes discovers Mordecai saved his life from an assassination attempt. The King asks, “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this.” The servant replies, “Nothing has been done for him.”

Have you ever experienced a lack of honor like that?


 The king thinks, “How can I honor Mordecai?” Then as Haman is just about to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai, the king asks, “What should be done for the man the King wants to honor?” (Esther 6:6a) Can you hear the chorus now? “You probably think this song is about YOU, don’t you?” Haman thinks to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than ME?” (Esther 6:6b)


Haman answers, “For the man the king delights to honor, put a royal robe on the man and have one of the king’s most noble officials lead him on a horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!” (Esther 6:7-9)


Excellent idea, Haman. Now, go get Mordecai, the man I want to honor. YOU pull the horses and parade him throughout the entire city. Sound good? Haman is undone. Afterwards, the King’s servants quickly escort Haman to Queen Esther’s big party where the King asks Esther, “What is your request?”


“Well, you see there’s this plot to slaughter all my people, myself included.” The fickle, forgetful King asks, “Who is he? Who would dare do such a thing?” Esther said, “The evil Haman!” In short order Haman, a victim of his vanity, hangs from the gallows he prepared for Mordecai.


As often the case, vanity breeds superiority and self preoccupation, but it also marginalizes people, especially those of lower estate, it can even persecute them. But, at the end of the day, as we see with Haman, self-importance gets the best of us and it’s usually not pretty.


Join us next time as we see the surprising ending unravel all because Queen Esther decided, “It’s not about me.”