Judy Collins - Send in the Clowns - 1975
Lyrics

Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground
You in mid-air.
Where are 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 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?
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
But where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns
Well, maybe next year.

Trivia

This is just plain good stuff. Not party music but if you’re interested in a real work of art, this is what the 70’s produced. The vocals, the lyrics, the poetry, the layers of instrumentals that don’t compete with the vocalist. Utter class.

"Send in the Clowns" is a song by Stephen Sondheim from the 1973 musical A Little Night Music, an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night. 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 looks back on an affair years earlier with the lawyer Fredrik. Meeting him after so long, she finds that he is now in an unconsummated marriage with a much younger woman. Desirée proposes marriage to rescue him from this situation, but he declines, citing his dedication to his bride. Reacting to his rejection, Desirée sings this song. The song is later reprised as a coda after Fredrik's young wife runs away with his son, and Fredrik is finally free to accept Desirée's offer.

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