Carly Simon Will Serenade 9/11 Ceremony This Week

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Good news: legendary soft-rocker Carly Simon has been tapped to perform at the 9/11 ceremony this Friday at Ground Zero.

Simon, with her band including kids Ben and Sally Taylor, will showcase a gorgeous, new acoustic version of her Oscar winning hit, “Let the River Run,” according to sources.

“Let the River Run,” coincidentally, is one of the tracks on Simon’s new CD, “Never Been Gone,” set for release on October 27th, on son Ben’s Iris Records. I just happened to listen to an advance copy of this album over the weekend ‘ it’s ten of Simon’s biggest hits reworked in a contemporary setting, with two new songs as well. It’s a great project.

Some of the re-done numbers could easily be hits all over again a la Eric Clapton’s “Layla” from his “Unplugged” album. They include “You’re So Vain,” “Anticipation,” “You belong to Me,” “The Right Thing to Do,” and a sensational new take on her original 1971 hit, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be.” (Simon has had more than a dozen top 40 hits but isn’t in the Rock and Roll you-know-what. What can we say at this point?)

Anyway, sources also say Carly and sister Lucy will accompany their older sister Joanna to Walter Cronkite’s memorial service this Wednesday at Lincoln Center. The Simons and Cronkites are old, old friends from Martha’s Vineyard. Joanna Simon Walker, who was recently widowed, and Cronkite were very close in the last couple of years, a fact that many credit to Cronkite’s good health and humor after his wife Betsy died.