Clair

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. Clair is a real girl, the 3-year-old daughter of O'Sullivan's manager, Gordon Mills. Gilbert did indeed babysit her and experienced the joy and pain that comes from spending time with a delightful little girl who won't go to bed. That's the real Clair laughing at the end of the song. In a Songfacts interview with O'Sullivan, he said the song is really for Clair's parents, Gordon and Jo. "They would ring me up and say they had to go to some big do, and I would babysit," he said. "I'm one of six, so I'm used to kids. The song was written as a 'thank you' to the parents, and she laughs at the end. Gordon plays the harmonica solo, so it's pretty much a family record."

In America, this was the follow-up to Sullivan's smash hit "Alone Again (Naturally)," which topped the chart for six weeks. "Clair" was also a huge hit there, but it was far bigger in the UK, where it went to #1. O'Sullivan had another chart-topper there with "Get Down."

"Uncle Ray" in the lyric was not inserted to rhyme with "hearing you say," but alludes to Ray O'Sullivan, Gilbert's real name.