First, I always thought that song was smarmy as fuck. I'm not a fan of saccharine pop.
But I see now it's being misrepresented as a pedo song about a man having sexual thoughts about a prepubescent girl.
Of course the current paranoia is at play.
It's an innocent song.
https://everyuknumber1.com/2020/09/25/322-gilbert-osullivan-clair-1972/
I'm surprised people aren't up in arms over The Kinks "Art Lover"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U4lyVcQGGE4
Uh, that one is horrible. Hahaha.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/profoundly-horrifying-song-lyrics-art-lover-by-the/
It's worse than Oingo Boingo's "Little Girls".
Only Ray Davies could write a (seemingly) sympathetic song about a......pedophile!!😱😱😱
shareHere's Ray Davies' explanation:
On the surface, this is an incredibly creepy song about about a man with bad intentions stalking a child. Kinks frontman Ray Davies, who wrote the song, explained that it is actually about a divorced dad who only gets custody of his daughter once a week. Davies says that when the guy says, "I'm not a flasher in a rain coat, I'm not a dirty old man," we can choose to believe him.
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-kinks/art-lover
But what about the line, "Pretty little legs/ I want to draw them/
Like a Degas ballerina/
Pure white skin, like porcelain ....."?
Ray's "explanation' doesn't really address THAT part, now does it?
Meh, I don't have any kids. But they see their daughters like pretty little ballerinas. I don't think there has to be anything pedo about that. If Ray Davies was a pedo, why would he write songs which tell the world about it?
shareGary Glitter (to my knowledge) never wrote any songs that hinted at his proclivities.....😱
Just saying......!
And no, I don't think Ray Davies is a pedo. Just a quirky English songwriter who'll often look at a subject from a different perspective.
Gary Glitter, on the other hand......well we all know how he turned out!!
Here's the lyrics.
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 all right 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
He's being fairly maligned.
Meh, it's just a guy talking cutesy to a little girl in more innocent times.
shareNo, it's an uncle babysitting his niece and wanting to fuck her.
Now fuck off yourself, troll, you know damn well you only started this thread because you're so bored you want to take a position you know damn well is wrong and argue it out, probably because you wish it was right. Begone!
Jeezus, what is your problem?
I looked up the background to the song before I posted this, moron. It's a cutesy song which O'Sullivan wrote to his manager's daughter. Do you think if he was really a pedo he would have wrote this song and exposed himself?
This song reminds me of the movie “Beautiful Girls” with an 11-12 yo Natalie Portman and an older Timothy Hutton. They form a friendship and a sort of crush on each other. It is creepy at times but it is also part of the story, and the older guy has boundaries and is not a pedo.
So maybe this song is innocent in the context of the era, but then again times were creepy back then. Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby thenthose Calvin ads. Serge Gainsbourg and his daughter Charlotte singing “Lemon Incest”.
I'm old enough to remember when that song was a minor hit for O'Sullivan (as opposed to that dreary monster hit he had with Alone Again Naturally [shudder]), and I can state categorically that no one back then thought of that song as anything more than a guy who singing to his little niece. But then, the world wasn't as filled with as many pervs as there are these days - I'm not surprised the thought of this being anything but innocent would occur to today's perverts.