Send In The Clowns lyrics by Judy Collins, 18 meanings. Send In The Clowns explained, official 2024 song lyrics | LyricsMode.com
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Judy Collins – Send In The Clowns lyrics

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Judy Collins – Send In The Clowns 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'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!
And 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.
And where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns...
Well, maybe next year.
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Songwriters: Stephen Sondheim
Send In The Clowns lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Send In The Clowns meanings Post my meaning

  • U
    + 30
    Unregistered 2012-03-25 01:36:40
    It's about a woman who was sought after for years by someone she considered a friend, not a love interest. After taking different paths for many years she finally realized she loved him. She showed up at his door to tell him she loved him, only to have him confide in her about his new and exciting love before she could speak. He confided in her freely because, after a lot of work, he had gotten over her because she finally convinced him she could never love him "like that. " she feels like a fool in this scene because she rushed to tell him of how she finally realized she was wrong, he was the one for her. Only to find he had moved on, and didn't even catch on that she showed up to express her eternal love for him. The clown represents how, in the circus, whenever a trapeze act falls to the floor, the clowns are sent in to honk and distract the audience while the circus crew "cleans up" the mess and wisks the person away so no one sees what happened. She is dying for someone to remove her from this awkward, revealing, and painful moment in her life before anyone figures out how devastated she is.
    Add your reply
  • b
    + 21
    BattenHatches 2015-01-16 17:49:08
    This song is about irony. She even describes it as a farce. So there should be clowns, shouldn't there? Because it's "funny," isn't it? He and she have been like circling birds in a flock, circling together in the sky but never really touching. She has been looking for someone (opening doors) but doesn't see what's in front of her face until she reaches a part of her life when she is finally settling down (Me here at last on the ground). She realizes it was him all along, and she excitedly "opens the door" just to find him gone and falling flat on her face. Haven't you ever chuckled sadly when something you are excited about turns into a flop? She sarcastically says they should send in the clowns, because, after all, it is so sadly funny.
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  • U
    + 11
    Unregistered 2011-12-12 10:07:29
    Despite sondheim saying it's not esoteric I disagree. To me it's about the relationship with one's own higher self (you in mid-air), and recognizing that it has always been there, and reveling in the pure joy and innocence of the inner clown/fool when realizing this, but then in the end falling back into forgetfulness - sad really, perhaps that's why I always pictured sad clowns, because we've forgotten that they're actually already here and we just can't see them.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 10
    Unregistered 2012-07-05 00:32:58
    Nearly 20 years ago I walked away from a girl who wanted me. Recently we re-established contact, and I can now see she was the one for me, the girl I should have married. I never understood how much she felt for me, I refused to allow myself, to understand. Why did I walk away? Because of comments by friends about her appearance. I didn't mind, but because I didn't want to be with a girl my friends had made comments on, I refused to allow myself to be close.
    And now, I 'know the door I wanted was hers', but she's married. She never forgot me, but after all these years she just can't walk out on the off chance of happiness, destroying her family.
    Every verse fits my situation. And I will never hold her again.
    1 reply
  • d
    + 7
    dancer_inrain 2015-02-10 12:57:00
    I was talking about this song just today and my doctor asked me what did it mean. I had often tried to figure it out, but today I think I have it! It certainly helped hearing what others had to say. I love this song. It speaks to me and today I heard it for the first time. I now hear the 'irony' of these two people. Going in different directions but yet are supposedly a pair. She's saying is this a joke, or what? Then when she finally decided to (in spite of all there differences) open her heart and just let the love flow. He's gone. Well, she'll try it again. Next year but not literally next year, just next time as timing is everything and isn't it strange that after a certain period in your life, you think you'd know better. Have better timing, not so, and so whose to blame? No blame, just pick up the pieces and try again later.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 6
    Unregistered 2011-11-16 15:50:09
    The "clowns" in the title do not refer to circus clowns. Instead, they symbolize fools, 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'.
    In a 2008 interview, sondheim further clarified:.
    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, but 'send in the fools' doesn't have the same ring to it.
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  • U
    + 6
    Unregistered 2011-09-15 01:03:25
    A woman who because of her phenomenal beauty. A star. Was running around playing the field, her true love who she took for granted, was her catcher in a trapeze act, she in her flight reaches out but finds her timing is off and no one is there to catch her, she lays dying on the ground send in the clowns, the circus always sends in the clowns, her life is like a video is palying before her and she realizes what she missed and then where are they the clowns, and finally don't bother they are here as she sees the angels arrived to take her to heaven. Brian and Janelle Marshall.
    1 reply
  • U
    + 5
    Unregistered 2015-02-04 17:53:41
    I think the whole song is about bad timing with love. Now that she loves him he doesn't love her. Send in the clowns meaning the joke is on her now. That is what I get out of it. Love is so good and so horribly sad. Bad timing in love.
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  • U
    + 4
    Unregistered 2016-08-13 16:52:45
    So beautiful, true and deeply tragic. How many unlucky humans have lived these words? And know their meaning with every molecule of who they are. Timing. Missing our partner in life by a tiny shift in the fabric of time. Knowing we can never find that exact place and time again. The sadness settling within our Being. Forever.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 4
    Unregistered 2016-02-18 15:54:10
    Life is a circus and just knowing that, you can get on with it. All songs have at least double meanings. I love it! And don't put too much into the song itself, because really the song "is in the air and you on the ground". The last verse tells you that when you finally figure 'it' out, you say to yourself "send in the clowns". You can't turn to anyone and say "look at me, I finally got it, isn't it odd, isn't it queer (which goes with year) " you now know that your timing was off (sigh), now send in the clowns (because you are one of them). Welcome to the world kiddo, I say, welcome to the life of clown college. (Or the collage of hard knocks).
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 4
    Unregistered 2015-11-11 20:52:31
    Sole internal personal versus a two person relationship? I can see possibilities in both views but, I lean toward the two person experience. Most importantly, I believe, for either case is the sadness at an opportunity missed. That, I truly don't get at all. While the protagonist was "missing the opportunity" wasn't the protagonist having an enjoyable time in the other, at-the-time-preferred activity? Reminds me of the buyer's regret scenario where a buyer can never enjoy any purchase, ever. I would really hate to lament significant portions my life as wasted. I say, use whatever method you might to decide, make your choice of the alternatives, and then revel completely in your choice, never giving a thought to the "what ifs." If Judy Collins help a person to get to that point in life sooner, then a celebration is called for!
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 4
    Unregistered 2015-03-14 16:52:50
    The story of all performers. Before they know it, their careers are over but want to go on stage one more time. But can they pull it off 'this last time? In this case no! When an act does not work, they send in the clowns to distract the crowd. And he/she realizes she is unable to pull it off and wants them"to send in the clowns".
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 4
    Unregistered 2011-12-04 00:33:16
    It's the bitter realization that you and the one you love have never truly been "of one heart", simply clowns fooled by your own mistaken perceptions. The painful but pragmatic acceptance that sometimes love isn't enough. And, perhaps, some forgiveness both of self and the beloved that in your respective blindness you hurt each other without ever meaning to do so. Even so, the understanding of such a truth can only lead to separation and heartbreak.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 3
    Unregistered 2015-02-05 04:27:19
    Watch the movie ,Sex in the city, and the song goes into this film. Four stars. Love is a feeling and the movie has a lot of this in it. It wakes you up and touches you like the morning sun.
    We don't get a lot here in Michigan sun in the winter. A touching movie and the sex parts, I close my eyes. Not my business to watch others.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered 2017-02-03 16:37:18
    At the circus, when a flyer's timing is off, and he misses his catcher, and falls to the floor of the center ring, the crowd gasps in horror, and as the tragedy is attended to the ring master calls, "Send in the clowns." Clowns are a particular kind of entertainment. The "tears of a clown" are for what he knows is happening, behind his smiles, behind this eyes, tragedy, or confusion. It is his reason to be.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered 2015-12-31 03:03:36
    I was at the chiropractor-He asked if I'd been stressed-I rattled off my past 4 months in the time he applied 4 acupuncture needles. His response was "Oh my God." Then he asked me to envision everything positive: flowers, sunshine, rainbows, white beaches, teal waves, palm trees, whatever it takes to leave here, now. This song came on over the speakers. I wasn't even a preteen when it was popular, but had teenage sisters. I only knew one verse "Just when I stopped opening doors..." so I searched. I knew this story. I, the Capricorn, the only cardinal grounded sign. In love with the Libra, the only cardinal air sign. A small town girl, paralyzed by change. His family lived like gypsies, burning bridges as they went, but he would keep coming back. I was certain, for sure, by 2005. It would take him 5 more years. Now it's been 5 years & we wonder how different things could have been had he stayed 20 yrs ago. For our kids. If we hadn't been "fools".
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered 2011-12-07 21:16:59
    I think that because of the " finally knowing the one that i wanted was yours" shows that songs is going to 2 people. A girl who took her love, and the guy who left her there alone. This song is also representing her yearn to be okay, but she trying to get pity. It represents that you shouldnt need love to be happy, but then again, all of society's happiness depends on it. It's a cute song to listen to when your down and upset about love.
    Add your reply
  • U
    - 1
    Unregistered 2011-11-29 06:36:42
    This song reminds me of my past that I loved a beautiful. Really beautiful woman. If a male singer should have sung this initially, this is a kind of reminiscence song in the memory of her lover who left her already.
    This is a really beautiful song ever to me.
    I miss her again to listen to this music. But I cannot find her in facebook. Someone should help me hahaha :)
    Add your reply
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    Top meanings Post my meaning

    • U
      + 30
      Unregistered
      It's about a woman who was sought after for years by someone she considered a friend, not a love... Read more →
    • b
      + 21
      BattenHatches
      This song is about irony. She even describes it as a farce. So there should be clowns, shouldn't... Read more →
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    [Intro][Verse][Pre-Chorus][Chorus][Hook][Bridge][Outro]