It’s probably just me but I think there’s something about the name “Gaye” that is very 1970s. Like “Jackie” or “Tracy” it reminds me of girls with long, centre-parted Susan Dey hair, wearing pop socks, a stripy tank top (note to American readers: in the UK a tank top is a sweater vest) and high-waisted Crimplene flares who listened to Radio Luxembourg in their bedrooms at night and dreamt about David Essex.

“Gaye” was also the only hit for Clifford T. Ward who is the epitome of the sensitive and mopey 70s singer-songwriter. It’s a very pretty record but the lyrics are really soppy (“You’re the tray of nice things I upset yesterday”) and Ward sounds so wet it’s almost twee – Gilbert O’Sullivan could probably beat him up.

These days, girls in England are given old-fashioned names with Victorian snob appeal like Olivia and Emily which lack the council estate glamour of a Gaye or Tracy. You wouldn’t catch an “Olivia” having a snog in a bus shelter.

Download: Gaye – Clifford T. Ward (mp3)
Buy: “Home Thoughts From Abroad” (album)
Photo from the Paynes Cafe Royal Reunion website.