SEND IN THE CLOWNS*

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.

This is Stephen Sondheim's best known and most popular song, yet few who listen to it really know what it is about. This is particularly true if they do not know the story of A Little Night Music.

First of all it has nothing to do with circus clowns. Sondheim explained.

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".

The Story: Some twenty years earlier, the actress Desirée had had an affair with Fredrik and he wanted to marry her. However, she was too involved in her career and its frequent travel to want to settle down, so she refused. After they broke up, she had a daughter whom she named Fredrika but he does not know that. Now he has married a beautiful eighteen year old with whom he is enamored. The former lovers have just met again and had a brief fling. She realizes her mistake and wants to get back with him, but he returns to his young wife, and she sadly sings "Send In the Clowns". In it she comments on the ironic situation; her life is not going well and it is time for some comic relief. Every line has some significance with regard to the story.

Isn't it rich? Are we a pair?
    (Isn't it ironic; they are two mismatched people)
Me here at last on the ground,
    (After her life of tearing around the country as an actress, she is ready to settle down.)
You in mid-air.
     (He is the one now in love with his young wife.)
Send in the clowns.

Isn't it bliss?
Don't you approve?
One who keeps tearing around,
One who can't move.
    (She used to be the one always on the go; he was the conservative one who couldn't move with her.)
Where are the clowns?
    (Someone should be laughing at the situation)
Send in the clowns.

Just when I'd stopped opening doors,
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours,
    (She spent her life looking for someone and has just realized he was the one she wanted.)
Making my entrance again with my usual flair,
Sure of my lines,
No one is there.
    (She'd set up the weekend in the country to try to entice him, but when she made her grand entrance with
    all her dramatic skills and having rehearsed her role, he was not receptive.)

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.
    (Sondheim said this line should be "steeped in self-loathing".)
Don't bother, they're here.
    (They are the clowns)

Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer,
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
    (She has lost her skills as an actress just when they were so important to her. Again, very ironic)
And where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns.
Well, maybe next year.
    (Sondheim this should be pensive.)

When they finally decide to get back together, there is a reprise in which they happily declare, interspersing the following musical lines with other, spoken ones:

DESIRÉE: Isn't it rich?
FREDRIK: Are we a pair? You here at last on the ground.
DESIRÉE: You in mid-air. Was that a farce?
FREDRIK: My fault I fear.
DESIRÉE: Me as a merry-go-round.
FREDRIK: Me as King Lear. Make way for the clowns.
DESIRÉE: Applause for the clowns.
BOTH: They're finally here.

* The singer for whom the song was written, Glynis Johns, had a beautiful clear voice, but she had a limited range and could not sustain notes very well. Thus it was written in short sentences and at times almost as a monotone. This resulted in the heightening of the mood of melancholy and despair. The song was later sung with great success by many famous people including Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan.

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Revised November 2009
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