That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be

That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be is the only single released from Carly Simon's self-titled debut album.

The song was written by Carly Simon & Jacob Brackman.

Song Background
The song is described as an art song with a semi-classical melody in the style of Gabriel Fauré.

The staffers at Elektra Records were worried that the single was too emotionally complex to be released as Carly's first single due to the subject matter that includes "the parents' bad marriage; the friends' unhappy lives; the boyfriend's enthusiasm for marriage but controlling nature; the woman's initial resistance and ultimate capitulation."

Carly was quoted as saying about the song:

"When I first wrote it I thought it was an unusual thing for people to break up, and now all my friends are divorced."

Chart Performance
"That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.

In Australia, the song peaked at number sixty-two on the ARIA charts and in Canada, the song peaked at number fifteen on the RPM charts.