"Clair" is a song by Gilbert O'Sullivan, released in 1972 as the first single from his second album '' Back to Front''. It was written by O'Sullivan and produced by

Gordon Mills Gordon William Mills (15 May 1935 – 29 July 1986) was a successful London-based music industry manager and songwriter. He was born in Madras, British India and grew up in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. During the 1960s and 1970s ...

, and is one of O'Sullivan's biggest-selling singles.

Song details

The song is a love song from the point of view of a close family friend who babysits a young girl (actually the artist's manager's daughter), though for the first part of the song, the ambiguous words lead one to think that it is a romantic song from one adult to another. The brief instrumental introduction is the sound of O'Sullivan whistling before he begins his vocal. The real Clair was the three-year-old daughter of O'Sullivan's producer-manager,

, 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. The harmonica instrumental break in the song, played by Mills, modulates up a

semitone A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...

, from A to B-Flat, before going back to A.

Cover versions

*An Italian rendition in 1973 by the crooner Johnny Dorelli. *A version by Singers Unlimited was sampled by producer

J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon vari ...

for the Slum Village song "Players". *Another cover (in English) was recorded in 2006 by French singer Laurent Voulzy on his album "La Septième Vague".

Chart performance

"Clair" was the number one single on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

for two weeks in November 1972, and number one in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

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 "Me and Mrs. Jones" is a 1972 soul song written by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Cary Gilbert, and originally recorded by Billy Paul. It describes an extramarital affair between a man and his lover, Mrs. Jones. In the song, the two meet in secre ...

" by Billy Paul and " You're So Vain" by Carly Simon. "Clair" was also O'Sullivan's second and last number one hit on the U.S.

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

chart, after " Alone Again (Naturally)".

Weekly singles charts

Year-end charts

References