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Clair Lyrics
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 alright then, but wait just a minute."
While I, in an effort to babysit, recapture my breath,
What there is left of it.
You can be murder at this hour of the day.
But in the morning this hour will seem a lifetime away.
Oh Clair Clair ...
Oh Clair
Gilbert O'Sullivan
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 alright then, but wait just a minute."
While I, in an effort to babysit, recapture my breath,
What there is left of it.
You can be murder at this hour of the day.
But in the morning this hour will seem a lifetime away.
Oh Clair Clair ...
Oh Clair
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I guess that we read or hear these lyrics in the light of recent revelations of sexual predators, but this was written at a time when you could have platonic love for a child without it being considered creepy as there was no sexual intent.
Sadly today what was written in innocence can be misinterpreted. I am sure this is the case with Gilbert O as someone has already said he is still friends with Clair the girl he used to babysit.
Love this song. I have a niece named Claire, and I used to sing it to her.
This was written for his manager's daughter who he used to babysit, as a gift to his parents, and hit it big in many nation, including the U.S. and U.K. There is a video of him playing with Clair at the time with the song playing on YouTube (sort of a makeshift music video from 1973).
Some of the lyrics were questionable with regard to a grown man being so in love with a little girl he was unrelated to. "In spite of our age difference", "each time I leave you I feel I could die", "to me you're more than a child". But it is, in the end, an innocuous tribute to a little girl who he is still friends with today (in her forties).
A gift to "her" parents I meant.
A gift to "her" parents I meant.
By the way, the correct lyric is, "I want to marry you; will you marry me, Uncle Ray?"
By the way, the correct lyric is, "I want to marry you; will you marry me, Uncle Ray?"
The singer's real name is Raymond O'Sullivan (he changed it as a play on the famous duo "Gilbert & Sullivan") and Clair used to call him Uncle Ray when he babysat.
The singer's real name is Raymond O'Sullivan (he changed it as a play on the famous duo "Gilbert & Sullivan") and Clair used to call him Uncle Ray when he babysat.
I remember this song when I was a kid growing up in the UK. I was a GO'S fan as an 8 year old. Loved Alone Again which I recently bought on iTunes and Get Down which I just heard on Smooth fm, leading me here. But on just reading the lyrics to Claire it comes across somewhat unacceptable!! Creepy really. I can see why the US radio dj suggested G likes little girls. I trust though that it was purely platonic and that despite the choice of words making the lyrics, it was all good and clean.
@Markie Raye Certainly, I want to believe the feelings expressed are innocent. But even when the song was popular, it gave me the creeps to hear a toddler laughing at the end. And I really liked the song otherwise.
@Markie Raye Certainly, I want to believe the feelings expressed are innocent. But even when the song was popular, it gave me the creeps to hear a toddler laughing at the end. And I really liked the song otherwise.
Perhaps the song is describing a happy relationship like this, only hopefully without the destructive interference at the end:\n\n"Germaine Greer (1975) ... relates the experience of one of her school friends: [She] enjoyed sex with her uncle throughout her childhood and never realized that anything was unusual until she went away to school. What disturbed her then was not what her uncle had done, but the attitude of her teachers and psychiatrist. They assumed that she must have been traumatized and disgusted and therefore in need of very special help. In order to capitulate to their expectations, she began to fake symptoms she did not feel, until at length she began to feel truly guilty for not having felt guilty. She ended up judging herself quite harshly for this innate lechery. (Page number not given.)"\n\n-- Paul Okami, "Sociopolitical Biases in the Contemporary Scientific Literature on Adult Human Sexual Behavior with Children and Adolescents," p. 11\n\nGreer G. Seduction Is a Four-Letter Word, New York: John Cushman Associates, Inc., 1975