--- ---  # What Made Carly Simon Decide to Marry James Taylor  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 13, 2014 5:00 PM UTC  Carly Simon and James Taylor performing Carly Simon and James Taylor performingRichard E. Aaron—Redferns / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 13, 2014 5:00 PM UTC In the new issue of TIME, music legend Carly Simon discusses Taylor Swift’s career — and revealed a surprising story about her own history: “In 1971, I was walking down the street with my sister, we had just crammed Indian food into our mouths and were walking home. And I looked at the cover of TIME Magazine and it was James Taylor, whom I’d never met. And I looked at him from fairly far away, and I said to my sister, ‘I’m gonna marry that man,'” Simon told TIME’s Jack Dickey. “What were they thinking?” Simon asked about the cover’s psychedelic composition, “But it did have a supernatural quality, at least in getting the message to me. Simon and Taylor, fans will know, married in 1972\. They met, according to [_Rolling Stone_](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/week-in-rock-history-carly-simon-and-james-taylor-tie-the-knot-20111031), just about a month after Simon would have seen that fateful magazine. The two divorced in 1983. Here’s that magical cover:  James Taylor (Mar. 1, 1971) J. H. BRESLOW **_Read the 1971 cover story, here in the TIME Vault:_**[The New Rock: Bittersweet and Low](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-03-01/page/49/) **_Read TIME’s new cover story about Taylor Swift:_** [The Power of Taylor Swift](http://time.com/3583129/power-of-taylor-swift-cover/?pcd=hp-magmod) Carly Simon in Taylor Swift Interview: James Taylor Marriage Story ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3581327/carly-simon-james-taylor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3581327/carly-simon-james-taylor/"},"headline":"What Made Carly Simon Decide to Marry James Taylor","datePublished":"2014-11-13T17:00:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:05.161Z","description":"There's nothing quite like a magazine cover","url":"https://time.com/3581327/carly-simon-james-taylor/","keywords":["Marriage","Music","relationships","Taylor Swift","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dfd3fdb432c7ae7/6987686a0b72e38e296dbe0e/simon-taylor.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dfd3fdb432c7ae7/6987686a0b72e38e296dbe0e/simon-taylor.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Carly Simon and James Taylor","caption":"Carly Simon and James Taylor","creditText":"Richard E. Aaron—Redferns / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3581327/carly-simon-james-taylor/","name":"What Made Carly Simon Decide to Marry James Taylor"}}]}] ```