Songfacts®:

• Fred again recorded "Clara (The Night is Dark)" for Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022). The album comprises vocal samples from some of the producer's favorite songs. For this track, Fred again built his introduction around a sample of The Clara Ward Singers 1994 rendition of the gospel hymn "The Storm Is Passing Over."
• Actual Life 3 also contains voice notes Fred again collected from friends. This song's "If you don't know, don't worry," refrain is one of these voice notes. The producer also uses the same line as the introduction for "Danielle (Smile On My Face)."
• The American Methodist minister and gospel music composer Charles Albert Tindley wrote "The Storm Is Passing Over" in 1905. Inspired by the biblical passage in Matthew 14 25-27, where Jesus walks on the water and calms the waves during a tempest, he wrote the hymn as encouragement for believers to take courage. For many African Americans in the early 20th century, life felt like a small boat tossed in a turbulent sea. Tindley assured them those stormy times would pass as they have the promise of eternal rest in heaven.
  
  "The Storm Is Passing Over" only gained significant popularity with gospel musician Donald Vails arrangement for his 1986 album Yesterday, Today, and Forever.
• Charles Albert Tindley is best known for his 1901 hymn "I'll Overcome Some Day," which became the basis for the US Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome."
• Fred again first previewed "Clara" at the end of his June 29, 2022 Boiler Room session broadcast from London. It was the last song he completed for Actual Life (presumably on September 9, 2022).
• Fred again co-wrote and co-produced "Clara" with his regular collaborators, Italian brothers Marco and Giampaolo Parisi.