Gilbert O’Sullivan – Clair

“Clair” – Single by Gilbert O’Sullivan from the album Back to Front
Released: October 1972
Songwriters: Raymond O’Sullivan
Charted: No.1 in UK and No.2 in US

For most of this song, Gilbert O’Sullivan sounds like he’s singing to his (much) younger girlfriend. It gets more and more awkward as he gets firm with her and orders her back in bed, but then he reveals he is not Clair’s boyfriend, but her babysitter.

The real Clair was the three-year-old daughter of O’Sullivan’s producer-manager, Gordon Mills, and his wife, the model Jo Waring. The little girl’s giggling is heard at the end of this song. The “Uncle Ray” mentioned in the song is O’Sullivan himself, a reference to his real name of Raymond O’Sullivan.

“Clair” was the number one single on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in November 1972, and number one in Canada on the RPM 100 singles chart. In late December, it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, behind both “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul and “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon.

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Gilbert O`Sullivan - Clair

Gilbert O`Sullivan - CLAIR - ( The Sweetest `Clair ` video Ever !)03:07

Jo Mills and Clair reunited with O’Sullivan in 2009 when they watched him perform at Royal Albert Hall in London. In 2017, Clair came to O’Sullivan’s concert in Hyde Park, where he performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra. “My daughters were with her,” he told Songfacts. “She said when I sang ‘Clair’ in front of 25, 30 thousand people, she had tears in her eyes. The song means a lot to her. She’s very grown up now, with two children of her own, but I still have that relationship with her.”

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