Clair
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Clair
The moment I met you, I swear.
I felt as if something, somewhere,
Had happened to me, which I couldn't see.
And then, the moment I met you, again.
I knew in my heart that we were friends.
It had to be so, it couldn't be no.
But try as hard as I might do, I don't know why.
You get to me in a way I can't describe.
Words mean so little when you look up and smile.
I don't care what people say, to me you're more than a child.
Oh Clair. Clair ...
Clair
If ever a moment so rare
Was captured for all to compare.
That moment is you in all that you do.
But why in spite of our age difference do I cry.
Each time I leave you I feel I could die.
Nothing means more to me than hearing you say,
"I'm going to marry you. Will you marry me, Uncle Ray?"
Oh Clair Clair ...
Clair
I've told you before "Don't you dare!"
"Get back into bed."
"Can't you see that it's late."
"No you can't have a drink."
"Oh allright then, but wait just a minute."
While I, in an effort to babysit, catch up on my breath,
What there is left of it.
You can be murder at this hour of the day.
But in the morning the sun will see my lifetime away.
Oh Clair Clair ...
Oh Clair
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Clair
The moment I met you, I swear.
I felt as if something, somewhere,
Had happened to me, which I couldn't see.
And then, the moment I met you, again.
I knew in my heart that we were friends.
It had to be so, it couldn't be no.
But try as hard as I might do, I don't know why.
You get to me in a way I can't describe.
Words mean so little when you look up and smile.
I don't care what people say, to me you're more than a child.
Oh Clair. Clair ...
Clair
If ever a moment so rare
Was captured for all to compare.
That moment is you in all that you do.
But why in spite of our age difference do I cry.
Each time I leave you I feel I could die.
Nothing means more to me than hearing you say,
"I'm going to marry you. Will you marry me, Uncle Ray?"
Oh Clair Clair ...
Gilbert O'Sullivan with the Girl who Makes Him No. 1 Today
Clair
I've told you before "Don't you dare!"
"Get back into bed."
"Can't you see that it's late."
"No you can't have a drink."
"Oh allright then, but wait just a minute."
While I, in an effort to babysit, catch up on my breath,
What there is left of it.
You can be murder at this hour of the day.
But in the morning the sun will see my lifetime away.
Oh Clair Clair ...
Oh Clair
OK then! Clair. Nobody seemed to object to this song at all when it first came out in the early '70s, but since then there are (clearly) two "Clair camps".
The first believes the song has a subtext of sexual attraction to a child which is kind of creepy. Or, at least, the language used to describe their relationship is kind of disturbing.
The other is utterly indignant that anyone could even THINK such a thing about a sweet, totally innocent song like this one. Such filthy minds! Such perverts! And now the grown-up Clair herself has come forth to insist that "Uncle Ray" is really the sweetest man, and nothing untoward ever happened between them.
Well, it's likely it never did. But let me go through this thing one line at a time, and it'll tell you why I am 3/4 in the first camp. Oh, maybe only half.
Clair
The moment I met you, I swear.
I felt as if something, somewhere,
Had happened to me, which I couldn't see.
These are lines which would be much more appropriate in an adult love song. Surely, they wouldn't fly today in the current atmosphere of sensitivity around child abuse. The third line MIGHT have a sexual connotation, though it's not clear (and Clair means "clear", after all). "Something, somewhere" - it's not spelled out, because it can't be, or shouldn't be? It's hard to tell. Anyway, it seems to bespeak something "deep" that would normally be associated with a traditional love song. How normal is it to dedicate such ambiguous lines to a small child?
And then, the moment I met you, again.
I knew in my heart that we were friends.
It had to be so, it couldn't be no.
Actually, these lines seem pretty normal. But then comes:
But try as hard as I might do, I don't know why.
You get to me in a way I can't describe.
Why do I find those lines so disturbing? They can't mean anything except "I'm trying and trying, but I can't understand why you're getting to me " - getting to me? A child, someone else's child?
Words mean so little when you look up and smile -
I don't care what people say, to me you're more than a child.
Oh Clair. Clair ...
This is likely the most contentious verse in the whole thing. "More than a child" means - what? An adult friend, a soul-mate - a woman? It's ambiguous, but in my mind leaves a little too much space to be comfortable.
Even those who vehemently deny any sort of romantic subtext in the song have a hard time with this one."I don't care what people say" actually points to people's objection to him spending so much time with a little girl. By implication, at least, people are talking about him (and her). Otherwise, why would he have to deny that it bothers him?
Clair
If ever a moment so rare
Was captured for all to compare.
That moment is you in all that you do.
Again, these are love-song lyrics, bespeaking a relationship between a grown man and a little girl that just feels too close, too superlative, like the balladeer placing his love object above all else.
But why in spite of our age difference do I cry.
Each time I leave you I feel I could die.
Wow! Maybe THIS is the dynamite verse, and I don't see how the pure and innocent camp can defend a grown man, not even a relative, saying he wants to DIE every time he leaves her. And that mention of age differerence - how could this NOT be creepy?
Nothing means more to me than hearing you say,
"I'm going to marry you. Will you marry me, Uncle Ray?"
Oh Clair Clair ...
Well. Little girls often say they're going to marry their Daddies, but this isn't her her Daddy. And this has so much importance to him that he says "nothing means more to me. . . " Subsequent versions of the song substituted "Oh, hoo-ray!" in place of "Uncle Ray", but isn't that some sort admission that a little girl proposing to a grown man is - somehow inappropriate?
Clair
I've told you before "Don't you dare!"
"Get back into bed."
"Can't you see that it's late."
"No you can't have a drink."
"Oh allright then, but wait just a minute."
While I, in an effort to babysit, catch up on my breath,
What there is left of it.
You can be murder at this hour of the day.
But in the morning the sun will see my lifetime away.
Oh Clair Clair ...
Oh Clair
Then something interesting happens.The lyric switches to something as ordinary as that awful Bobby Goldsboro song, That's My Boy: "Gotta have a drink of water and a story read, a teddy bear named Fred, that's my boy." A standard story of babysitting with a girl he is deeply in love with. Or so it seems. And yet, and yet. The continued repeat of "Clair" becomes a sort of cry - of longing? Of the completion of some sort of emptiness in him?
And I've just counted. He speaks her name TEN TIMES. Ten!
Creepy.
Do I think this song is supposed to be about a sexual relationship between a man and a little girl? I don't think so. But there's something seductive about it, a gut-lurching obsession that really shouldn't be there. The pro-Clair set insists that NOTHING is going on that shouldn't be, that it is all completely innocent. I think they mean "he isn't molesting her," which I don't think think he is. And they think anyone who even has a thought in that direction is a filthy pervert.
But is he obsessed with her? Is she "more than a child" to him? Does he want to die when he has to leave her? Does he wish they were closer in age, so they could try something more adult? All these elements are in the song somewhere, along with all the repeats of her name, and that delightful laugh at the end.
And the "real Clair" is trotted out again and again, insisting that "Uncle Ray" was perfectly lovely to her and never did anything he shouldn't. But that doesn't change the obsessive love and longing in the lyrics of that song. Nor does it change the fact that O'Sullivan - not Clair - became famous and made a lot of money from the song.
POST-POST. Clair reminded me of a famous poem by a famous man, about an even more famous girl. And no, I don't think they had a sexual relationship. And yes, I believe he was obsessed with her, throughout all of his life. It made him famous.
If ever a moment so rare
Was captured for all to compare.
That moment is you in all that you do.
Again, these are love-song lyrics, bespeaking a relationship between a grown man and a little girl that just feels too close, too superlative, like the balladeer placing his love object above all else.
But why in spite of our age difference do I cry.
Each time I leave you I feel I could die.
Wow! Maybe THIS is the dynamite verse, and I don't see how the pure and innocent camp can defend a grown man, not even a relative, saying he wants to DIE every time he leaves her. And that mention of age differerence - how could this NOT be creepy?
Nothing means more to me than hearing you say,
"I'm going to marry you. Will you marry me, Uncle Ray?"
Oh Clair Clair ...
Well. Little girls often say they're going to marry their Daddies, but this isn't her her Daddy. And this has so much importance to him that he says "nothing means more to me. . . " Subsequent versions of the song substituted "Oh, hoo-ray!" in place of "Uncle Ray", but isn't that some sort admission that a little girl proposing to a grown man is - somehow inappropriate?
Clair
I've told you before "Don't you dare!"
"Get back into bed."
"Can't you see that it's late."
"No you can't have a drink."
"Oh allright then, but wait just a minute."
While I, in an effort to babysit, catch up on my breath,
What there is left of it.
You can be murder at this hour of the day.
But in the morning the sun will see my lifetime away.
Oh Clair Clair ...
Oh Clair
Then something interesting happens.The lyric switches to something as ordinary as that awful Bobby Goldsboro song, That's My Boy: "Gotta have a drink of water and a story read, a teddy bear named Fred, that's my boy." A standard story of babysitting with a girl he is deeply in love with. Or so it seems. And yet, and yet. The continued repeat of "Clair" becomes a sort of cry - of longing? Of the completion of some sort of emptiness in him?
And I've just counted. He speaks her name TEN TIMES. Ten!
Creepy.
Do I think this song is supposed to be about a sexual relationship between a man and a little girl? I don't think so. But there's something seductive about it, a gut-lurching obsession that really shouldn't be there. The pro-Clair set insists that NOTHING is going on that shouldn't be, that it is all completely innocent. I think they mean "he isn't molesting her," which I don't think think he is. And they think anyone who even has a thought in that direction is a filthy pervert.
But is he obsessed with her? Is she "more than a child" to him? Does he want to die when he has to leave her? Does he wish they were closer in age, so they could try something more adult? All these elements are in the song somewhere, along with all the repeats of her name, and that delightful laugh at the end.
And the "real Clair" is trotted out again and again, insisting that "Uncle Ray" was perfectly lovely to her and never did anything he shouldn't. But that doesn't change the obsessive love and longing in the lyrics of that song. Nor does it change the fact that O'Sullivan - not Clair - became famous and made a lot of money from the song.
POST-POST. Clair reminded me of a famous poem by a famous man, about an even more famous girl. And no, I don't think they had a sexual relationship. And yes, I believe he was obsessed with her, throughout all of his life. It made him famous.
Child of the pure unclouded brow
And dreaming eyes of wonder!
Though time be fleet, and I and thou
Are half a life asunder,
Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy-tale.
I have not seen thy sunny face,
Nor heard thy silver laughter;
No thought of me shall find a place
In thy young life’s hereafter –
Enough that now thou wilt not fail
To listen to my fairy-tale.
Though time be fleet, and I and thou
Are half a life asunder,
Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy-tale.
I have not seen thy sunny face,
Nor heard thy silver laughter;
No thought of me shall find a place
In thy young life’s hereafter –
Enough that now thou wilt not fail
To listen to my fairy-tale.
Lewis Carroll
And another post to the post. Take a look at the last photo of Gilbert O'Sullivan holding Clair. There's something odd about it. I don't know why it is, but some areas of his hand look as if they have been obscured. Why would this be? Every version of this photo that I could find had this weird sort of photoshop.
