Gilbert's Interview on "This Morning", ITV, Feb 13, 1998

The presenters are Caron Keating (CK) and Richard Madeley (RM)

CK: Now the Seventies revival seems set to stay, don't throw away those flares yet! One man who was there the first time round, Gilbert O'Sullivan, is set to come storming back into the charts like so many other Seventies sensations, and do you remember this?

(Archive clips (above photo) of Gilbert singing "Alone Again (Naturally)" and "Clair")

RM: And he's looking good!

GOS: Nice to see you Richard again.
CK: And those flares, but there you go!
GOS: No, not for me the revival, I'm afraid.
CK: You won't remember this, but I once sang with you years ago back in Belfast.
GOS: Absolutely, we did a concert in Belfast and we needed a choir to sing a song at the end of the show, and Caron was the lead girl!
CK: Bad luck for you because I haven't got a very good voice!
RM (to CK): Were you a schoolgirl? Were you famous then or were you a schoolgirl?
CK: No, no, I was just at school and I think they just sort of asked for people, and I ended up doing it.
GOS: You went downhill from there for a while! No, it was a good night, it was good fun.
CK: Well, I think unfortunately I sang the wrong tune! But there you go, I tried to find a photograph but I couldn't.

RM (to GOS): Is there a Seventies revival or are we making it up?
GOS: I've no idea. I mean it's an anathema for me to even think of that kind of thing because you know that was then, I'm not interested I mean. I like the current state of music. I like to be involved in it, albeit I'm 51 years of age, but I mean you get a buzz out of it. I like making records. You know the records I make today are different from those I was making 25 years ago, thank God, because it would be a bit sad if they sounded the same. I kind of like the business.
RM: You share something with John Stapleton, the presenter on "The Time, The Place". He's about your age, I think, about 50/51...
GOS: Careful now!
RM: ...and you both look very young, you've got good bones haven't you?
GOS: I've no idea Richard! I mean you know, you just... Lots of cold water in the morning and that's it!
RM: Do you do that?
GOS: The cold water treatment?
RM: Paul Newman does that, he puts his face in the bowl for a minute.
GOS: I try not to look in the mirror too much.

CK: It's all that fresh Jersey air, isn't it?
GOS: Well that's good, there's no doubt. Jersey air is very healthy, nice place.
CK: Did you move out there for the kids, or just because you liked it?
GOS: A combination of all those things.
RM: Tax?
GOS: Yes, a combination of all those things, why not? And there's nobody out there like me so it's kind of good!
CK: There's nobody like you anywhere!
RM: Got a new album out?
GOS: The album's called "Singer Sowing Machine" as opposed to "Singer-Songwriter".
CK: A kind of joke?
RM: "Singer *Songing* Machine"?
GOS: No, "Singer Sowing Machine". People say: "You're a singer-songwriter", and again it's that kind of Seventies connotation, so as a joke we say "Singer Sowing Machine".
RM: Nice one!
GOS: In Japan they think it's kind of mystical.
CK: Because you're huge in Japan, aren't you?
GOS: No, I'm fairly big, but everybody's big in Japan because they're all so small! No, but it's a good market for me because the success there enables me to finance album releases in other parts of the world.
(sound of boat's horn outside the studio on the River Thames)

CK: What's that?
RM: It's a boat!
CK: I should be getting used to that by now!
GOS: How many years have you been here?
RM: Would you like to do the thing?
GOS: Absolutely. It's a track from the album called "I'll Be The Lonely One". Just features acoustic guitar.
CK: Great! Off you go and do it. Nice to see you Gilbert, bye!

(GOS performs the song as the credits roll)

With Thanks to David Birch for the transcript & Video.