Send in the Clowns

"Send in the Clowns" is a song by Stephen Sondheim, from the 1973 musical "A Little Night Music". It is a ballad from Act II in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life. Among other things, she regrets having turned down a marriage offer 20 years earlier. Meeting him after so many years, she finds that he is now in an unconsummated marriage. She proposes to marry him, to rescue him from this situation, but he declines. Reacting to his rejection of her, she sings the song.

Sondheim created the song specifically for the actress, Glynis Johns, who created the role of Desirée on Broadway. The song is written in four verses and a bridge, using a complex triple meter. It became Sondheim's most popular song after Judy Collins recorded it in 1975. Subsequently, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and many other famous singers have recorded the song, and it became a jazz standard.

Meaning of title

The "clowns" in the title do not refer to circus clowns. Instead, they are theatrical imagery, 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 "circus".... [I] t’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”. [Emphasis Added] cite video | title = An Interview with Stephen Sondheim | url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWC5qfVnsVs&feature=related | medium = Video Interview | publisher = Live from Lincoln Center | location = Broadcast live from the New York City Opera during the production of "A Little Night Music", in either 1990 or 1993, when Sally Ann Howes opened the opera season | year2 = 1990 or 1993 | accessdate = 2008-06-10]

In a 2008 interview, Sondheim further clarified the meaning:"As I think of it now, the song could have been called "Send In the Fools". I knew I was writing a song in which Desirée is saying, "aren't we foolish", or "aren't we fools"? Well, a synonym for fools is clowns.cite news | last = Gussow | first = Mel | title = Send In the Sondheim; City Opera Revives 'Night Music,' as Composer Dotes | work = The New York Times | pages = | publisher = | date = 2008-03-11 | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E7D6163EF932A25750C0A9659C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Sondheim,%20Stephen | accessdate = 2008-06-10] But Sondheim agreed that "Send In the Fools" lacked the same ring.

Context

In an interview by Alan Titchmarsh, Dame Judi Dench, who performed the role of Desirée in London, commented on the context of song. The play is "a dark play about people who, at the beginning, are with wrong partners."cite video | people = | title = An Interview of Dame Judi Dench by Alan Titchmarsh | url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rEhOnd8S-8&feature=related | medium = Video Interview | publisher = BBC | location = | year2 = 1996 | accessdate = 2008-07-08]

Around 20 years before the play begins, Desirée was a young, attractive woman, whose passions were the theater and men.cite web | last = Wikipedia | first = | authorlink = | title = A Little Night Music | work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_Night_Music#Plot | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-07-08] She was a stage actress, and she lived her life dramatically, flitting from man to man. Fredrik was one of her many casual lovers, but he fell deeply in love with Desirée and asked her to marry him. Desirée refused his proposal, because she lived "in the air". When she refused, Fredrik abandoned the quest and left her. He did not know it when they parted, but Desirée was pregnant with his child.

A few months before the play begins, Fredrik fell in love and married a beautiful woman who is 18 years old – much younger than he. In Act One, Desirée and Fredrik meet after 20 years apart. Fredrik meets his and Desirée's love child, who is now a handsome young man, around 20 years old. Fredrik explains to Desirée that he is now married to the young woman, whom he loves, but she is still a virgin and refuses to have sex with him. Desirée seduces Fredrik, and they enjoy a passionate night together.

Act Two begins the next morning, and Desirée realizes that she truly loves Fredrik and that she should have married him so long ago. She tells Fredrik that he needs to be rescued from his marriage, and she proposes to him. She tells him that she needs to be rescued and asks if she too can rescue him. Fredrik explains to Desirée that he has been swept off the ground and is "in the air" in love with his beautiful, young wife. So Fredrik refuses Desirée's proposal, and he apologizes for having misled her. Fredrik walks across the room, while Desirée remains sitting on the bed. As she feels both intense sadness and anger, at herself, her life and her choices, she sings, "Send in the Clowns".

Lyrics

The lyrics of the song are written in four verses and a bridge and sung by Desirée. As Sondheim explains, Desirée experiences both deep regret and furious anger:

[“Send in the Clowns”] was never meant to be a soaring ballad. It’s a song of regret. And it’s a song of a lady who is too upset and too angry to speak – meaning to sing for a very long time. She is furious, but she doesn’t want to make a scene in front of Fredrik because she recognizes that his obsession with his 18-year-old wife is unbreakable. So she gives up. So it’s a song of regret and anger. And therefore fits in with short-breathed phrases.”

Score

History

Sondheim wrote the lyrics and music over a two-day period during rehearsals for the play's Broadway debut. He created the song specifically for the actress, Glynis Johns, who created the role of Desirée. According to Sondheim, "Glynis had a lovely, crystal voice, but sustaining notes was not her thing. I wanted to write short phrases, so I wrote a song full of questions."

We hired Glynis Johns to play the lead, though she had a nice little silvery voice. But I'd put all the vocal weight of the show on the other characters because we needed somebody who was glamorous, charming and could play light comedy, and pretty, and to find that in combination with a good voice is very unlikely, but she had all the right qualities and a nice little voice. So I didn't write much for her and I didn't write anything in the second act. And the big scene between her and her ex-lover, I had started on a song for him because it's his scene. And Hal Prince, who directed it, said he thought that the second act needed a song for her, and this was the scene to do it in. And so he directed the scene in such a way that even though the dramatic thrust comes from the man's monologue, and she just sits there and reacts, he directed it so you could feel the weight going to her reaction rather than his action. And I went down and saw it and it seemed very clear what was needed, and so that made it very easy to write. And then I wrote it for her voice, because she couldn't sustain notes. Wasn't that kind of singing voice. So I knew I had to write things in short phrases, and that led to questions, and so again, I wouldn't have written a song so quickly if I hadn't known the actress. . . . I wrote most of it one night and finished part of the second chorus, and I'd gotten the ending. . . . [T] he whole thing was done in two days.cite web
last = Academy of Achievement | first = | authorlink = | title = An Interview with Stephen Sondheim | work = | publisher = | date = 2005-07-05 | url = http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/son0int-1 | format = Video Interview | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-10]

Thus, the song's lyrics are short phrases, and the song's melody is within a small music range.

Meter and key

The song uses an unusual and complex meter, which alternates between 9/8 and 12/8. These are two complex triple meters that evoke the sense of a waltz used throughout the score of the show. Sondheim explained the reason that he learned to use such complexities:

When I worked with Leonard Bernstein on West Side Story, one of the things I learned from him was not always necessarily to think in terms of 2-, 4- and 8-bar phrases. I was already liberated enough before I met him not to be sticking to 32-bar songs. But I tend to think square. I tend to think... it’s probably because I was brought up on mid-19th and late-19th Century music. And, you know, it’s fairly square. There are not an awful lot of meter changes. You often will shorten or lengthen a bar for rhythmic purposes and for energy. But... when you switch in the middle [of a song] , particularly when it’s a modest song: when you’re not writing an aria, you know – if you’re writing something like Sweeney Todd, where people sing at great length, you expect switches of meter, because it helps variety. But in a little 36- or 40-bar song, to switch meters around is almost perverse, because the song doesn’t get a chance to establish its own rhythm. But the problem is, what would you do? Would you go, “Isn’t it rich? (two – three) Are we a pair? (two – three) Me here at last on the ground (three), you in mid-air.” Lenny [Bernstein] taught me to think in terms of, “Do you really need the extra beat or not.” Just because you’ve got four bars of four, if you come across a bar that doesn’t need the extra beat, then put a bar of three in. So... the 9 [beat bars] and [the] 12 [beat bars] that alternate in that song were not so much consciously arrived at as they were by the emotionality of the lyric.

The song is written in the primary key of E major.

Styles

“Send in the Clowns” is performed in two completely different styles: dramatic and lyric. The dramatic style is the theatrical performance by Desirée, and this style emphasizes Desirée’s feelings of anger and regret, and the dramatic style acts as a cohesive part of the play. The lyric style is the concert performance, and this style emphasizes the sweetness of the melody and the poetry of the lyrics. Most performances are in concert, so they emphasize the beauty of the melody and the obsurity of the lyrics.

Sondheim teaches both dramatic and lyric performers several important elements for an accurate rendition.cite video | people = | title = Stephen Sondheim Teaches at Guildhall School of Music, Part 2 | url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-VXXZLh2a0
medium = Video Class | publisher = Guildhall School of Music | location = Guildhall School of Music, London | year2 = 2006 | accessdate = 2008-07-08]

The dramatic performer must take on the character of Desirée: a woman who finally realizes that she has misspent her youth on the shallow life. She is both angry and sad, and both must be seen in the performance. Two important examples are the contrast between the lines, “Quick, send in the clowns” and “Well, maybe next year”. Sondheim teaches that the former should be steeped in self-loathing, while the latter should emphasize regret. Thus, the former is clipped, with a break between “quick” and “send”, while the latter “well” is held pensively.

Sondheim himself apologizes for mistakes which he made in the composition. For example, in the line, “Well, maybe next year”, the melodic emphasis is on the word "year" but the dramatic emphasis must be on the word "next". Sondheim has said:

The word "next" is important: "maybe "next" year" as opposed to ""this" year". [Desirée means] "All right, I've screwed it up this year. Maybe next year I'll do something right in my life." So: "well, maybe next year" even though it isn't accented in the music. This is a place where the lyric and the music aren't as apposite as they might be, because the important word is "next", and yet the accented word is "year". That's my fault, but [the performer must] overcome."cite video
people =
title = Stephen Sondheim Teaches at Guildhall School of Music, Part 1
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT7GC9oJ9xY&feature=related
medium = Video Class
publisher = Guildhall School of Music
location = Guildhall School of Music, London
year2 = 2006
accessdate = 2008-07-08]

Another example arose from Sondheim's American roots: he put two 'f' sounds together in the line, “Don't you love farce?” American performers in concert will often link the two 'f' sounds, so that the words are sung as one, and British audiences hear, "Don't you love arse?", with its altogether unfortunate meaning. Sondheim agrees, "It's an awkward moment in the lyric, but that v and that f should be separated."

In the line of the fourth verse, "I thought that you'd want what I want. Sorry my dear", the performer must communicate the connection between the "want" and the "sorry".

Similarly, Sondheim insists that performers separately enunciate both “t”s in line, “There ought to be clowns”.

The differences are illustrated and may be compared in the performances of Glynis Johnscite video
people =
title = Glynis Johns, Send in the Clowns
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAl-EawVobY
medium = Video Performance
publisher = That's Singing: The Best of Broadway
location =
year2 = 1992
accessdate = 2008-07-08] and Judi Denchcite video
people =
title = The 1998 Royal Charity Gala Concert, "Hey, Mr. Producer!"
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE3dLzIYKs8
medium = Video
publisher = CML
location = Concert held at the Lyceum Theatre in London
year2 = 1998
accessdate = 2008-07-08] with those of Judy Collinscite video
people =
title = Judy Collins, Send in the Clowns
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5yG1Dy5b4A
medium = Video Performance
publisher = Paul Masson Summer Series
location = San Jose, California
year2 = 1991
accessdate = 2008-07-08] and Frank Sinatracite video
people =
title = Frank Sinatra, Send in the Clowns
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAAAspIKxJk
medium = Video Performance
publisher = Live from Carnegie Hall
location = Carnegie Hall, New York
year2 = 1980
accessdate = 2008-07-08] . The former are dramatic and meant for the theater; the latter are lyric and meant for the concert.Or|date=July 2008

Glynis Johns personifies Desirée. She created the character on Broadway. Her interpretation highlights Desirée’s anger and regret. Listen, for example, to her anger, when she sings, “Isn’t it rich?”

As Glynis Johns did in the U.S., Judi Dench created Desirée for the U.K. stage. In her performance, she does not sing so much as tell the story. Listen to the bitterness as she hisses the line, “Isn’t it rich?”, and the hard ‘k’ in “clowns”. She won the Olivier Award for her performance.

In contrast with the Johns and Dench, Judy Collins's performs not as an actress portraying Desirée but as a pop singer of a sad ballad. She never played Desirée in the theater. Instead, she used the beautiful lyrics and melody to create a major pop hit. Similarly, Frank Sinatra performs a traditional ballad, which has been reworded to the masculine.

Popular success

Sondheim composed more than 800 songs, but this is his only song that became a major pop hit.

In 1973, the play and song debuted on Broadway. The song become popular with theater audiences but had not become a pop hit. Sondheim explained how the song became a hit:

First of all, it wasn't a hit for two years. I mean, the first person to sing it was Bobby Short, who happened to see the show in Boston, and it was exactly his kind of song. He's a cabaret entertainer. And then my memory is that Judy Collins picked it up, but she recorded it in England. Sinatra heard it and recorded it. And between the two of them, they made it a hit.

In 1975, Judy Collins recorded the song and included it in her album, " Judith". [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Billboard
work = Send in the Clowns, by Judy Collins
publisher = Asylum Records
date = 1975
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?pid=2625&aid=74426
format = Album
doi =
accessdate = 2008-07-08] The album included the song, "Send in the Clowns", which soon became a major pop hit. In 1975, the song remained on the Billboard Top 100 for 11 weeks, reaching Number 36. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Billboard Hot 100
work = Send in the Clowns, by Judy Collins
publisher =
date = 1975-08-30
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=379&cfgn=Singles&cfn=The+Billboard+Hot+100&ci=3070850&cdi=8867269&cid=08%2F30%2F1975
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-07-08] Then, in 1977, the song again reached the Billboard Top 100, where it remained for 16 weeks and reached Number 19. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Billboard Hot 100
work = Send in the Clowns, by Judy Collins
publisher =
date = 1977.11.19
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=379&cfgn=Singles&cfn=The+Billboard+Hot+100&ci=3070967&cdi=8878944&cid=11%2F19%2F1977
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-07-08] At the Grammy Awards of 1976, the Judy Collins' performance of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns" named 'Song of the Year'. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = 1975 Grammy Award Winner, Song of the Year
work = Send in the Clowns, written by Stephen Sondheim, performed by Judy Collins
publisher =
date = 1975
url = http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx?title=&winner=judy+collins&year=0&genreID=0&hp=1
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-07-08]

After Judy Collins recorded the song, it was recorded by Frank Sinatra, Kenny Rogers, Lou Rawls and many others.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Billboard
work = Send in the Clowns
publisher =
date =
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/searchResult.jsp?exp=y&D=send+in+the+clowns&Ntt=send+in+the+clowns&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Keyword&an=bbcom&nor=10&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=0&Ns=FORMATTED_DATE|0
format = Search Results
doi =
accessdate = 2008-07-08]

In 1985, Sondheim added a verse for a Barbra Streisand to use in her concert performances.cite video
people =
title = Barbra Streisand in Concert
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnwJ5KIcKX4
medium = Video Concert
publisher =
location =
year2 =
accessdate = 2008-07-08] and recording, which was featured on "The Broadway Album". In 1986, her version became a Number 25 Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary hit. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
work = Send in the Clowns, by Barbra Streisand
publisher =
date = 1986-03-29
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=341&cfgn=Singles&cfn=Hot+Adult+Contemporary+Tracks&ci=3004879&cdi=6223713&cid=03%2F29%2F1986
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-07-08]

The song has become a jazz standard with performances by Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, the Stan Kenton Orchestra and many others.

Recordings

* Judy Collins in 1975 recorded the song on her album, Judith.
* Frida (Anni-Frid) Lyngstad (of ABBA) recorded this song in Swedish for her 1975 album "Frida Ensam".
* Guitarist and educator Ted Greene arranged the song in his seminal release, "Solo Guitar."
* Model, singer and actress Grace Jones recorded a disco version of the song for her debut album, "Portfolio", in 1977.
*Pop group Brotherhood of Man recorded a largely a cappella version for their 1978 album "Twenty Greatest."
* Elizabeth Taylor, although hitherto not a singer, recorded the song for the 1978 film adaptation of "A Little Night Music", in which she starred.
* Angela Lansbury sings the song live on the CD "A Stephen Sondheim Evening", with Sondheim himself accompanying her on the piano.
* A version was recorded by Bryan Ferry during sessions for his abandoned album "Horoscope" in 1991 but has not been legitimately released. Some bootleg editions of the album contain the song as the final vocal track.
* Glenn Close performed the song live at Carnegie Hall in the 1992 concert "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall". Her performance was seen on the subsequent televised version of this concert, and can be seen on the CD and DVD releases.
* Tom Jones recorded a version in 1999, on the album: "Send in the Clowns".
* Covered by the Tiger Lillies on their 2000 album "Circus Songs".
* Mandy Patinkin performs the song on his 2002 album "Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim".
* Olivia Newton John on a 2004 cover album "Women of Song"
* Dame Judi Dench performed the song in the 1990s during an evening celebrating British theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh ('Hey! Mr. Producer').
* Howard Keel recorded the song and it is available on the Vocal Masters release "Bless Your Beautiful Hide".
* Version by the Brazilian singer Renato Russo in his solo album "The Stonewall Celebration Concert".
* Peter Criss on his 2007 album "One for All"
* Jazz guitarist Pat Martino recorded an instrumental version of the song for his 1976 release 'We'll be Together Again.'
* Jazz vocalist Carmen McRae once recorded this song.
* Renato Russo, a Brazilian singer, recorded a version of the song on his album "The Stonewall Concert Celebration".
* Frankie Laine on his 1978 British album "Life is beautiful". It was issued on a single in England.
* Van Morrison has performed the song in his live set frequently.

Parodies

* Stars of the Lid recorded a version called "Don't Bother They're Here" for their 2007 album "And the Refinement of the Decline."
* The Santa Clara Vanguard uses an instrumental version as its official corps song, which is played at the anniversary dinner, as well as in encore performances.
* The song was sent up on an episode of The Simpsons, "Krusty Gets Kancelled." The episode concerns Krusty the Clown hosting a comeback special to rival his puppet competitor, Gabbo. He opens the special by singing the song in a baleful croak, all the time on the verge of weeping, and on his final chant of "Send in the clowns," he does indeed break down, and Sideshow Mel enters and completes the verse: "They're already here." The lines sung here ("Send in the clowns/those daffy, laffy clowns!/Send in those soulful and doleful, schmaltz-by-the-bowlful clowns") are clearly not the original lyrics.
* The song was performed as a snippet during "The Electric Co." on the U2 release, "Under A Blood Red Sky". However, the band did not have the appropriate licensing and did not pay the required royalties and were fined $50,000 (US) and had to make sure any further pressings of the release had an edited version of the song. [http://u2faqs.com/history/a.html#5]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.sondheim.com/ Sondheim.com]
* [http://www.sondheimguide.com/night.html Sondheim Guide to the Play]
* [http://www.sondheimreview.com/v5n1.htm Sondheim Review]
* [http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/Sondheim/littlenightmusic.htm Notes to the Play]
* [http://www.mtishows.com/show_home.asp?ID=000048 Upcoming Performances of the Play]
* [http://www.nodanw.com/shows_l/little_night_music.htm Guide to Musical Theater for the Play]
* [http://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/a/alittlenightmusiclyrics/sendintheclownslyrics.html Lyrics of "Send in the Clowns"]