Behind the Song Lyrics: “Coming Around Again” by Carly Simon

Originally written for the 1986 Mike Nichols-helmed romantic comedy Heartburn, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, “Coming Around Again” was the perfect pop ballad to sweep into a storyline following the story of the ups and downs of a marriage.

Based on the 1983 book “Heartburn,” by the late author Nora Ephron, who was then documenting her crumbling marriage to Carl Bernstein, at the time, “Coming Around Again” marked Simon’s 12th Top 40 hit in the U.S., reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was her first hit since 1980 release “Jesse,” which peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Pop chart. 

Off Simon’s 13th album Coming Around Again, the track of the same name— featured as a b-side to on her 1986 single release “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” and also featured on the Heartburn soundtrack—runs through all the realities of marital bliss and more blistering moments in the lyrics And I believe in love / But what else can I do / I’m so in love with you.

Baby sneezes
Mummy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
But so bewildering

I know nothing stays the same
But if you’re willing to play the game
It’s coming around again
So don’t mind if I fall apart
There’s more room in a broken heart

Accompanying the film release in 1986, “Coming Around Again” took on another life and is one of those songs that continues to “come around again and again and again,” joked Simon, but it was not a comeback for the singer, who picked up a Grammy for Best New Artist for her self-titled 1971 debut. Throughout her career, Simon released multiple hits, including “You’re So Vain,” “Anticipation,” “Loving You Is the Right Thing To Do,” “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain,” “Mockingbird,” featuring James Taylor, “Give Me All Night,” “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of” and “Let the River Run,” the theme song to the 1988 film Working Girl.

“I don’t perceive this as a comeback,” said Simon in a 1987 interview. “Although it could be perceived that way by people who have not followed my career through the years where there hasn’t necessarily been a hit off of an album. But it certainly isn’t to me. I didn’t drop out at any time.”