Clair (song)

"Clair" is a popular song by Irish singer and songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan and is one of his biggest-selling singles. Written by O'Sullivan and produced by Gordon Mills, it was the number one single in the UK for two weeks in November 1972, number one in Canada on the RPM 100 national singles chart the following January, and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. It was also O'Sullivan's second and last number one hit on the U.S. Easy Listening chart, after "Alone Again (Naturally)".^[1]

The song is the love song of an uncle for his young niece, though for the first part of the song, the ambiguous text leads one to think that it is from one adult to another. The brief instrumental introduction is the sound of Gilbert whistling, before he comes in. The real Clair was the young daughter of O'Sullivan's producer-manager, Gordon Mills, by the model Jo Waring, and 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 instrumental break in the middle section is done half a step up from A to B-Flat, before going back to A.

"Clair" was included in Sullivan's album Back to Front (1972). An Italian version was performed in 1973 by the crooner Johnny Dorelli. A cover by Singers Unlimited was sampled by producer J Dilla for the Slum Village song "Players."

See also

• List of number-one singles of 1972 (Ireland)
• List of number-one singles from the 1970s (UK)
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1972 (U.S.)

References

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 187. 

Preceded by "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy

Canadian RPM 100 number-one single January 6 - 20, 1973

Succeeded by "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon