Songfacts®:

• In this song, Janet Jackson teams up with Missy Elliott to shred some son of a gun who thinks he can run around using women. The hook ("I bet you think this song is about you...") is lifted from Carly Simon's 1972 classic "You're So Vain."
  
  Jackson has said the song isn't about one person in particular, but inspired by various men who have come in and out of her life. Simon famously refused to say who "You're So Vain" is about.
• Missy Elliott was red hot when this song was released at the end of 2001. Earlier that year, she released her third album, Miss E... So Addictive, with the hits "Get Ur Freak On" and "One Minute Man." She was also in demand as a producer, but she didn't produce "Son Of A Gun" - it was helmed by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson's producers since her 1986 album Control.
  
  Elliott was thrilled to work with Jackson because she's a huge fan. When she was a kid, Missy used to send Janet fan letters.
• "Son Of A Gun" was the third single from Janet Jackson's All For You album, following the title track and "Someone To Call My Lover," which were both huge hits. "Son Of A Gun" didn't do nearly as well; it peaked at #28 but spent just 12 weeks on the chart.
• Carly Simon re-recorded her vocals from "You're So Vain" for use in this song, giving her full rights to the performance royalties. She also contributed a spoken section that's used at the end of the song.
• The music video, directed by Francis Lawrence, was shot at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. It stars Jerell Scott, who in 2008 was a contestant on Project Runway, as the cad who is tormented by Jackson, Elliott, and their team of henchwomen.
• Jackson performed this song on her All For You tour in 2001 but retired it until 2024, when she brought it back for her Together Again tour. She left it in the setlist for her Janet Jackson: Las Vegas residency, which launched at the end of that year.