Send in the Clowns

Recently, I discovered a song that seemed very sad. It's called Send in the Clowns which seems very happy at first but it is truly a very depressing song when you look at the words. It has two meanings though and either one is melancholy for different reasons.

The real meaning is that there is an actress who is in love with this man but she didn't want to marry him when he asked her years before. Now that she does, however, he has married a very young woman and can't be with her. she sings this after he has told her that he can't be with her. The title, Send in the Clowns, in this interpretation means send in the fools or make jokes because the show is dying and we don't know what to do next. This is what she thinks about her life, it is falling apart and she doesn't know what to do now.

The interpretation I found was put in my head when we were discussing show choir ballads. We started talking about ballads that have that long silence at the end before the applause. Someone said there was a school in the 1990s that did Send in the Clowns, and wen they got done this person thought the crowd wasn't going to cheer because the silence was so long. The way he saw it was that the person singing was an acrobat in a circus. They hadn't been using nets and they fell and were dying on the ground singing this song. The title literally meant send in the clowns because they didn't want the circus ruined because they had died and the clowns would make people happy. This is the same idea as the post The show must go on.



Here are the lyrics. See which side you are on:

Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air.
Send in the clowns.

Isn't it bliss?
Don't you approve?
One who keeps tearing around,
One who can't move.
Where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns.

Just when I'd stopped opening doors,
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours,
Making my entrance again with my usual flair,
Sure of my lines,
No one is there.

Don't you love farce?
My fault I fear.
I thought that you'd want what I want.
Sorry, my dear.
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don't bother, they're here.

Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer,
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
And where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns.
Well, maybe next year.