Send In The Clowns Lyrics
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 what 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.
When a king was feeling down, he'd call for the clowns, the jesters, the players, the whores: anything to cheer him up. ...at least that has always been the feeling i get from the song. but the writer gets quite specific:
.....as Sondheim explained in a 1990 interview: I get a lot of letters over the years asking what the title means and what the song's about; I never thought it would be in any way esoteric. I wanted to use theatrical imagery in the song, because she's an actress, but it's not supposed to be a circus. It's a theater reference meaning "if the show isn't going well, let's send in the clowns"; in other words, "let's do the jokes." I always want to know, when I'm writing a song, what the end is going to be, so "Send in the Clowns" didn't settle in until I got the notion, "Don't bother, they're here", which means that "We are the fools." [wikipedia]
check out the tiger lillies live version, if you're into something far-out and beautiful (youtube)
what exactly is this song trying to convey?
if you\'ve seen the musical, you realize that the main character just realizes that her life was spent, that she was over, that she was not who she thought she was... she sings this song and realizes that \"Just when I\'d stopped opening doors, finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours.\"
i dont know much more than that. im trying to figure it out myself? anywon else have any meanings?
I haven't seen A Little Night Music but i know that this is sung by Desiree, who is an aging lounge singer or performer of some kind. The man this is adressed to is one she's had a long standing affair with, but he's now married to a teenage girl and Desiree herself is now the mistress of a Duke/Count/nobleman of some kind. I just saw Ruthie Henshall sing this on tv and thought it was incredibly poignant.