ln Waterford, O'Sullivan's father worked in a meat factory while his mother ran a sweet shop. In 1958, at the age of 11, he moved with his family to Swindon in England in search of a better life. He attended St. Joseph's Comprehensive school in Swindon. While there he developed an interest in both music and amateur boxing. Musically he began with the guitar and progressed to the piano. In the boxing ring he had nearly 50 bouts. Meanwhile his painting and drawing had won him a place at Swindon Art College. He started there in September 1963. His aim was to be a graphic designer. He played drums in his first group The Doodles and left them to join The Prefects while attending Swindon Art College. It was while at college that he met Rick Davies, who was later a member of Supertramp. While at college he began writing songs and sending out demo tapes, alas they were always returned unopened. The first song he remembers writing was Ready Miss Steady.
After finishing college, O'Sullivan moved to London in 1967 to try and further his musical career. He took a part-time job as a salesman at the C & A department store in Oxford Street. Mike Ward who also worked at C & A, had a contract with CBS and Gilbert went with him one day and played his tapes for some of the CBS executives. Gilbert signed a five year publishing contract with CBS which called for one single a year, and released two singles Disappear/You in 1967 and What Can I Do/You in 1968. Gilbert was disappointed that he was not allowed any input into the arranging or production of the singles. Neither single did well. Disillusioned with CBS, O'Sullivan signed with the Major Minor label and released I Wish I Could Cry/Mr. Moody's Garden in 1969.
O'Sullivan came to the attention of BBC Radio 1 disc jockey, John Peel, who gave him a slot on his radio show Top Gear, little of note resulted, and O'Sullivan spent part of 1969 applying to other record labels and management companies. It was at this time that O'Sullivan formulated his 'Bisto Kid' image; grey flannel suit, flat cap, school boy tie, football socks and hobnail boots. In search of a manager he sent some demo tapes to Gordon Mills, an ex-pop singer and himself a songwriter of repute, who had successfully guided the careers of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. Gordon Mills recognised something unique in the young Irishman and signed him for management as well as to a songwriting contract.
O'Sullivan made an irresistible impression with Nothing Rhymed, his first Top 10 hit and an introduction to his witty lyrics and original approach as a singer/songwriter. Signed to MAM Records, the label launched by Gordon Mills, who was also his record producer, great friend and surrogate older brother, O'Sullivan enjoyed four years of major success, incorporating a dozen more hit singles, ten of which reached the UK Top 10, and four Top 5 albums: Himself (1971), Back To Front (1972), I'm A Writer Not A Fighter (1973) and A Stranger In My Own Back Yard (1974).
Both Clair (written about Mills's infant daughter for whom Gilbert occasionally babysat) and Get Down were number one hit singles in Britain, and additionally, Back To Front topped the UK LP chart in 1972, emulating the success of the two million seller Alone Again (Naturally), a six week US chart-topper in 1972. O'Sullivan made his live debut in The National Stadium in Dublin in October of '72. Around this time, the singer jettisoned his so-called "Bisto Kid" image in favour of an endless series of collegiate-styled sweaters embossed with the letter "G". As quickly as O'Sullivan ascended to fame, however, his star began to fall , although singles like Ooh Baby and Happiness Is Me and You continued to chart, they sold increasingly fewer copies, and after 1973 his overseas popularity essentially ceased altogether. At home, he notched his final Top 20 hit with 1975's I Don't Love You But I Think I Like You. After a Greatest Hits album in 1976, and Southpaw in 1977, by which time the hit singles had dried up, disagreements over future direction led to a bitter split between O'Sullivan and Mills, which effectively sidelined the former as a recording artist for five years. The gruelling court case between O'Sullivan and his erstwhile manager, producer, music publisher and record company boss finally gave him control of his own recordings and the copyright in his songs, although it exacted an inevitable toll on his energy and his creativity during it's precedent-setting course.
Gilbert returned to CBS in 1980 and released Off Centre (1980) and Life & Rhymes (1982) but maintained a low profile during much of the 1980s, recharging his batteries and moving to Jersey, where he still lives with his wife and two children. Off Centre provided his 13th UK Top 20 single, What's In A Kiss?, after which legal proceedings monopolised his time. However, he continued writing songs, performing what he called "concepts within four walls" rather than starting back on the road before it was appropriate. He later recalled that the lyrics he wrote during that period were too heavily influenced by his personal emotions - having been extremely close to Mills before their disagreement, he was highly distressed to discover that his dear friend had been guilty of considerable financial greed at Gilbert's expense. Even so, he applied himself to his lonely creativity, working from 9 to 5 each day "just like Goffin & King and people like Neil Sedaka & Howard Greenfield at the Brill Building in New York used to do", although he later confessed "Really, the words were no good, because my mind was cluttered with all the problems". Lyrics have always been O'Sullivan's most unique facet, reflecting what's going on in his mind, and the strain under which he found himself was hardly conducive to much positive artistic or commercial creativity.
The first release for five years was Frobisher Drive and was only available in Germany. The same album with a slightly different track listing was released in the UK in 1989 under the title In The Key Of G, and included So What, his first chart single in almost a decade. Since the low-key comeback, the pace has increased, with five more albums. Gilbert also made a return to live performances in the early nineties, playing regularly in both Europe and Japan. In 1991, Gilbert was again in court, this time he sued American rapper Biz Markie and won the decision after Markie's unauthorized sample of "Alone Again (Naturally)" on his 1991 album I Need a Haircut. A 1992 single, Tomorrow Today had topped the Japanese charts for nine weeks, and this success led to a tour of Japan in early 1993 with his newly formed backing group, during which he recorded and filmed his first ever live album Tomorrow Today. Gilbert's newfound success in Japan led to the Japanese only release of The Little Album (1992) and Rare Tracks (1992). 1993's critical acclaimed Sounds Of The Loop (Daily Telegraph's Record Of The Week) included a duet with the legendary Peggy Lee on Can't Think Straight and even a solo version of the same song in Japanese. This album was recorded almost entirely at his home in Jersey in the Channel Islands.
By Larry (with a similar track listing to the Japanese released The Little Album) was released in 1994. Larry is a famous English cartoonist, much admired by Gilbert. Larry provided original cartoons for the album sleeve and booklet. Every Song Has It's Play was released the following year and was the soundtrack of the semi-autobiographical stage show that Gilbert had acted and sang in, in 1991. Singer Sowing Machine was released in 1997. The title is a humorous reaction by Gilbert to being constantly referred to as a singer/ songwriter. Irlish was released in 2000 and yielded three singles, Have It, Say Goodbye and Two's Company (Three Is Allowed). The album title Irlish, combination of the words Irish and English, appropriate for someone born in Ireland and raised in England. Gilbert's family was part of this migration. In 2001 The Official Gilbert O'Sullivan Website was launched as well as his own record label ByGum Records.
Gilbert continued to tour and he played a series of concerts in Ireland in 2001 and in the UK in 2002 to promote the Irlish album. A new studio album Piano Foreplay followed in 2003. In 2004 Rhino Handmade Records released a 3 CD anthology in the USA of Gilbert's music entitled Caricature: The Box. It contains 73 tracks which span the years 1967-2001. This is the first in-depth survey of Gilbert's lengthy career. It contains numerous singles and B-sides, tracks from 16 of his albums, and five previously unreleased tracks. A b-side collection entitled The Other Sides of Gilbert O'Sullivan was released in Japan in 2004 and contained many tracks available on CD for the first time. A series of concerts followed in Japan in June 2004 followed by a 20 date European Tour of the UK, Ireland, Norway and Denmark in November and December. In February 2005 a DVD/CD set of the 2004 Japanese show was released in Japan. Gilbert returned to Japan in June 2005 for a series of 13 shows. Gilbert spent the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 recording his next studio album "A Scruff At Heart" which was released in Japan on 25 October 2006.
At The Very Mention Of Your Name
Gilbert O'Sullivan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Get shivers down my back and in my brain
The parts that used to function normally
Are now as you can see
Acting very strange
Oh at the very mention of your name
Don't know why but if I were tied up in chains
I would somehow be released
My heart would never feel no pain
At the very mention of your name
At the very moment you arrive
I stop living and I start to feel alive
You have the power that's taken over me
Led me to believe
Call it what you like
At the very moment you arrive
I suspect that I will pinch myself to find
That it really isn't true
It really can't be you
Walking up the garden drive
At the very moment you arrive
And although it's been said well over a thousand times
Here's a thousand more
Will you still be mine forever and evermore
At the very mention of your name
What am I to do and who am I to blame
The effect upon my life can only be described
A bit like being hit my a train
At the very mention of your name
The song “At The Very Mention Of Your Name” by Gilbert O'Sullivan is a classic love song that speaks about the power of love and how it can affect a person. The lyrics of the song describe the intense emotions that the singer experiences whenever he hears the name of the person he loves. These emotions range from feeling shivers down his back and in his brain, to having all his problems cease and his heart never feeling any pain. The singer also states that when his love arrives, he stops living and starts feeling alive, as she has the power that has taken over him.
The song highlights the uncontrollable intensity and power of love, and how it can be overwhelming, altering one’s senses and basic functions. The singer describes this power by comparing it to being hit by a train. At the end of the song, the singer is left with the dilemma of what to do and who to blame for the effect that his love has had on his life.
Overall, the song is a beautiful representation of love, and how it can take hold of a person's life and make them feel a range of intense emotions, good or bad.
Line by Line Meaning
At the very mention of your name
The utterance of your name causes a physical and mental reaction in me
Get shivers down my back and in my brain
I experience a tingling sensation throughout my entire body
The parts that used to function normally
The areas that were once functional now behave strangely
Are now as you can see
Their abnormality is apparent
Acting very strange
The abnormality takes the form of unusual behavior
Oh at the very mention of your name
The response to your name is intense
Don't know why but if I were tied up in chains
I can't explain why, but even if I was restrained, I would feel liberated
I would somehow be released
The restraints would have no power over me
All problems too would cease
All my problems would disappear
My heart would never feel no pain
I would not experience any emotional pain
At the very moment you arrive
The moment you show up
I stop living and I start to feel alive
My existence becomes more meaningful because of your presence
You have the power that's taken over me
You possess the ability to control me
Led me to believe
You have instilled this belief in me
Call it what you like
You can describe it however you want
I suspect that I will pinch myself to find
I have a feeling that I will need confirmation that you are real
That it really isn't true
I have doubts that you actually exist
It really can't be you
I struggle to believe that you are here
Walking up the garden drive
Coming towards my house
And although it's been said well over a thousand times
This sentiment has been expressed repeatedly
Here's a thousand more
I will continue expressing it countless times
Will you still be mine forever and evermore
I hope you will remain with me eternally
What am I to do and who am I to blame
I am confused and unsure of how I should respond to this situation
The effect upon my life can only be described
The impact you have had on my life is indescribable
A bit like being hit my a train
It feels like I have been struck by a powerful force
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: GILBERT O'SULLIVAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Orquídea Lucero Merma Torres
At the very mention of your name
Get shivers down my back and in my brain
The parts that used to function normally
Are now as you can see
Acting very strange
Oh at the very mention of your name
Don't know why but if I were tied up in chains
I would somehow be released
All problems too would cease
My heart would never feel no pain
At the very mention of your name
At the very moment you arrive
I stop living and I start to feel alive
You have the power that's taken over me
Led me to believe
Call it what you like
At the very moment you arrive
I suspect that I will pinch myself to find
That it really isn't true
It really can't be you
Walking up the garden drive
At the very moment you arrive
And although it's been said well over a thousand times
Here's a thousand more
Will you still be mine forever and evermore
At the very mention of your name
What am I to do and who am I to blame
The effect upon my life can only be described
A bit like being hit my a train
At the very mention of your name
Sahlan Ompongoh
His songs and voice never fail to inspire me! I love his music
Donna Carl Kuchinski
love it.....first time I've ever heard it.......Gilbert O' Sullivan is so very talented...I'm 61 and was always a fan, but also not aware of ALL his great music!
Orquídea Lucero Merma Torres
At the very mention of your name
Get shivers down my back and in my brain
The parts that used to function normally
Are now as you can see
Acting very strange
Oh at the very mention of your name
Don't know why but if I were tied up in chains
I would somehow be released
All problems too would cease
My heart would never feel no pain
At the very mention of your name
At the very moment you arrive
I stop living and I start to feel alive
You have the power that's taken over me
Led me to believe
Call it what you like
At the very moment you arrive
I suspect that I will pinch myself to find
That it really isn't true
It really can't be you
Walking up the garden drive
At the very moment you arrive
And although it's been said well over a thousand times
Here's a thousand more
Will you still be mine forever and evermore
At the very mention of your name
What am I to do and who am I to blame
The effect upon my life can only be described
A bit like being hit my a train
At the very mention of your name
Kimberly Timmerman
The power of love and prayer at the very mention of a person's name. Powerful song. Love it.
PianoGesang
While Elton John is a musical genius Gilbert is the god of music. He can do everything music encompasses and he does it with ease.
Angel D
The "God" HAHAHAHA what about Michael Jackson or Freddy mercury? or Madonna?
President-Elect, Natalie Cunningham
I didn’t value him til he was gone. Just like Elvis. Typical American.
President-Elect, Natalie Cunningham
EJ is an overrrated asshole.
Ann Amos
I love this guy and this is my favourite song by him....
Thom
Wow! This is the first time I’ve heard this song, it’s hauntingly beautiful.