Send In the Clowns (Frank Sinatra) cover
"Send In the Clowns" is a song written by Stephen Sondheim for 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 Two, in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life. Sondheim wrote the song specifically for the actress Glynis Johns, who created the role of Desirée on Broadway. The song is structured with four verses and a bridge, and uses a complex compound meter. It became Sondheim's most popular song after Frank Sinatra recorded it in 1973 and Judy Collins' version charted in 1975 and 1977. Subsequently, numerous other artists recorded the song, and it has become a jazz standard.
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 [...] [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."
Frank Sinatra recorded "Send in the Clowns" in 1973 for his album Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back, which attained gold status. Gordon Jenkins arranged the song. It was also released as a single. In later versions, he sang it with minimal accompaniment. Sinatra's version plays in the end credits of Todd Phillips' 2019 film Joker.
This cover is the live Frank Sinatra acoustic version with Tony Mottola recorded live from the “Concert For The Americas” special. The Concert for the Americas was a music festival held on August 20, 1982, in the Dominican Republic at the Altos de Chavón Amphitheater, a 5,000-seat, open-air Greek-style venue located approximately two hours east of Santo Domingo. It was the amphitheater's inaugural event, with performers including Frank Sinatra with Buddy Rich, Heart, and Santana. Santana's set was cut short due to inclement weather.
The song was also performed on The Voice USA 2024 by Edward Preble in the Knockout stage of the competition.
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