Hotcakes (album)
1974 studio album by Carly Simon
Hotcakes is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released by Elektra Records, on January 11, 1974. Featuring the major hits "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" and "Mockingbird", the latter a duet with her then-husband James Taylor, Hotcakes became one of Simon's biggest selling albums. Her first concept album, the autobiographical songs portray Simon happily married and beginning a family.
The album's cover photo, taken by Ed Caraeff in late 1973, shows Simon sitting in a maternity dress, pregnant with her first child, Sally. Produced by Richard Perry who had previously helmed No Secrets, the album features Simon on piano, including the final track "Haven't Got Time for the Pain". The string-and-percussion outro at the end of the album was composed by cellist Paul Buckmaster and drummer Ralph MacDonald.
Songs
According to AllMusic critic William Ruhlmann, in "Misfit" "a wife implores her carousing husband to come home." Simon said of "Misfit" that "At times now when I'm at the point of despair I'm not as inclined to write about it as I used to be. That's what the lines mean in 'Misfit'. 'It is hip to be miserable when you're young and intellectual. In a bit you'll admit you're a misfit.' It's making fun of neurotic persons who want to be more neurotic so they can be a real artist.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5911034. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974 and 1973.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hotcakes (album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.