One advantage to being a platinum recording artist: after a breakup, you can write a bitter kiss-off song and your ex will have to change stations when it comes on the radio. And Crow’s had no shortage of celebrity boyfriends who might want to lunge for the dial, including Clapton, Jakob Dylan, Kid Rock, Owen Wilson, and Lance Armstrong. But Clapton can rest easy, according to Crow: “‘My Favorite Mistake’ is about several people in my life who weren’t very good ideas—but not Eric. I’ve known Eric for over ten years, and I can’t look at that relationship as a mistake.” Crow has also learned from the decades-long intrigue about who was the inspiration for Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” Crow’s declared that when asked who her song’s really about, “I’m gonna say Warren Beatty or Mick Jagger.”

(Excerpted from the 2006 book Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton’s Little John?: Music’s Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed, published by Three Rivers Press, written by Gavin Edwards.)