View source for Send In the Clowns

{{Short description|Song written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music}}
{{about|the song by Stephen Sondheim}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
"'''Send In the Clowns'''" is a song written by [[Stephen Sondheim]] for the 1973 [[Musical theater|musical]] ''[[A Little Night Music]]'', an adaptation of [[Ingmar Bergman]]'s 1955 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. Among other things, she looks back on an affair years earlier with the lawyer Fredrik, who was deeply in love with her, but whose marriage proposals she had rejected. Meeting him after so long, she realizes she is in love with him and finally ready to marry him, but now it is he who rejects her, as he is 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 (music)|coda]] after Fredrik's young wife runs away with his son, and Fredrik is finally free to accept Desirée's offer.<ref>[http://www.mtishows.com/show_home.asp?ID=000048 "Synopsis"] mtishows.com, accessed 16 April 2015</ref>

Sondheim wrote the song specifically for [[Glynis Johns]], who originated the role of Desirée on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]].<ref name="20250722TG">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=David |title=‘A privilege and a great pleasure’: inside the 5,000-item Stephen Sondheim collection |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/jul/22/a-privilege-and-a-great-pleasure-inside-the-5000-item-stephen-sondheim-collection |access-date=22 July 2025 |work=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]] |date=22 July 2025}}</ref> The song is structured with four verses and a bridge, and uses a complex [[Compound metre|compound meter]]. It became Sondheim's most popular song after [[Frank Sinatra]] recorded it in 1973 and [[Judy Collins]]'s version charted in 1975 and 1977. Subsequently, numerous other artists recorded the song, and it has become a [[Standard (music)|standard]].

==Meaning of title==
The "clowns" in the lyrics and title does not specifically refer to [[circus clown]]s, as Sondheim explained in a 1990 or 1993 interview:

{{Blockquote|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."<ref name=Lincoln>{{Cite AV media |title=An Interview with Stephen Sondheim |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWC5qfVnsVs | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522091221/http://youtube.com/watch?v=iWC5qfVnsVs| archive-date=2007-05-22 | url-status=dead|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 |access-date=2008-06-10}}</ref>}}

In a 2003 interview, Sondheim further clarified:

{{Blockquote|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.<ref name=Gussow>{{cite news |last=Gussow |first=Mel |title=Send In the Sondheim; City Opera Revives 'Night Music,' as Composer Dotes |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2003-03-11 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E7D6163EF932A25750C0A9659C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Sondheim,%20Stephen |access-date=2019-05-19}}</ref>}}

==Context==
{{Main|A Little Night Music}}
[[Judi Dench]], who performed the role of Desirée in London, commented on the context of the song during an interview with [[Alan Titchmarsh]]. The play is "a dark play about people who, at the beginning, are with wrong partners and in the end it is hopefully going to become right, and she (Desirée) mistimes her life in a way and realizes when she re-meets the man she had an affair with and had a child by (though he does not know that), that she loves him and he is the man she wants."<ref name=Dench_I>{{Cite AV media |title=An Interview of Dame Judi Dench by Alan Titchmarsh |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rEhOnd8S-8  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/0rEhOnd8S-8| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|medium=Video Interview |publisher=BBC |date=1996 |access-date=8 July 2008}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Some years before the play begins, Desirée was a young, attractive actress, whose passions were the theater and romance. She lived her life dramatically, flitting from man to man. Fredrik was one of her many lovers and fell deeply in love with Desirée, but she declined to marry him. The play implies that when they parted Desirée may have been pregnant with his child.

A few months before the play begins, Fredrik married a beautiful young woman who at 18 years old was much younger than he. In Act One, Fredrik meets Desirée again, and is introduced to her daughter, a precocious adolescent suggestively named Fredrika. Fredrik explains to Desirée that he is now married to a young woman he loves very much, but that she is still a virgin, continuing to refuse to have sex with him. Desirée and Fredrik then make love.

Act Two begins days later, and Desirée realizes that she truly loves Fredrik. She tells Fredrik that he needs to be rescued from his marriage, and she proposes to 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, and apologizes for having misled her. Desirée remains sitting on the bed; depending on the production, Fredrik walks across the room or stays seated on the bed next to her. Desirée – feeling both intense sadness and anger, at herself, her life and her choices – sings "Send in the Clowns". She is, in effect, using the song "to cover over a moment when something has gone wrong on stage. Midway through the second Act she has deviated from her usual script by suggesting to Fredrik the possibility of being together seriously and permanently, and, having been rejected, she falters ''as'' a show-person, finds herself bereft of the capacity to improvise and wittily cover. If Desirée could perform at this moment – revert to the innuendos, one-liners and blithe self-referential humour that constitutes her normal character – all would be well. She cannot, and what follows is an exemplary manifestation of Sondheim's musico-dramatic complexity, his inclination to write music that performs drama. That is, what needs to be covered over (by the clowns sung about in the song) is the very intensity, ragged emotion and utter vulnerability that comes forward through the music and singing itself, a display protracted to six minutes, wrought with exposed silences, a shocked Fredrik sitting so uncomfortably before Desirée while something much too real emerges in a realm where he – and his audience – felt assured of performance."<ref>{{cite journal |first=Graham |last=Wolfe |title=Sondheim's ''A Little Night Music'': Reconciling the Comic and the Sublime |journal=Studies in Musical Theatre |volume=8 |number=2 |date=June 2014 |pages=143–157 |doi=10.1386/smt.8.2.143_1}}</ref>

Not long thereafter, Fredrik's young wife runs away with his son, so he is free to accept Desirée's proposal, and the song is reprised as a coda.

==Score==
===History===
Sondheim wrote the lyrics and music over a two-day period during rehearsals for the play's Broadway debut,<ref name=Academy /> specifically for the actress [[Glynis Johns]], who created the role of Desirée.<ref name=Academy /> 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" and the song's melody is within a small music range:<ref name=Gussow />

::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&nbsp;... I wrote most of it one night and finished part of the second chorus, and I'd gotten the ending&nbsp;... [T]he whole thing was done in two days.<ref name=Academy>{{cite web |last=Academy of Achievement |title=An Interview with Stephen Sondheim |date=5 July 2005 |url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/son0int-1 |format=Video Interview |access-date=10 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509145124/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/son0int-1 |archive-date=9 May 2008 }}</ref>

===Lyrics===
The lyrics of the song are written in four [[Verse (popular music)|verses]] and a bridge and sung by Desirée. As Sondheim explains, Desirée experiences both deep regret and furious anger:
{{Blockquote|"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&nbsp;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.<ref name=Lincoln />}}

===Meter and key===
The song was originally performed in the key of D{{music|flat}} major.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stephen Sondheim: A Little Night Music – Music on Google Play |url=https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Stephen_Sondheim_A_Little_Night_Music?id=B752xa54ruhpg6az3hr4z4j2thu |website=play.google.com |access-date=6 September 2014}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=No information on key given, unless you listen to the cast recording and figure out what the notes are.|date=October 2016}}

The song uses an unusual and complex meter, which alternates between {{music|time|12|8}} and {{music|time|9|8}}.<ref name=Lincoln /> These are [[Compound metre|compound meters]] that evoke the sense of a waltz used throughout the score of the show. Sondheim tells the story:

::When I worked with [[Leonard Bernstein]] on ''[[West Side Story (musical)|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&nbsp;... 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&nbsp;... 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&nbsp;... [I mean,] if you're writing something like ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (musical)|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 (after 'ground') 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&nbsp;... the 9 [beat bars] and 12 [beat bars] that alternate in that song were not so much consciously arrived at as they were by the emotionality of the lyric.<ref name=Lincoln />

== 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 lyrics.

Sondheim teaches both dramatic and lyric performers several important elements for an accurate rendition:<ref name=Guildhall_II>{{Cite AV media |title=Stephen Sondheim Teaches at Guildhall School of Music, Part 2 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-VXXZLh2a0  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/8-VXXZLh2a0| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|medium=Video Class |publisher=[[Guildhall School of Music]] |location=Guildhall School of Music, London |date=2006 |access-date=8 July 2008}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|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.<ref name=Guildhall_II /> Thus, the former is clipped, with a break between "quick" and "send," while the latter "well" is held pensively.<ref name=Guildhall_II />}}

Sondheim apologizes for flaws in his 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'':

{{Blockquote|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 [it's] "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 [something the performer must] overcome.<ref name=Guildhall_I>{{Cite AV media |title=Stephen Sondheim Teaches at Guildhall School of Music, Part 1 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT7GC9oJ9xY  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/PT7GC9oJ9xY| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|medium=Video Class |publisher=Guildhall School of Music |location=Guildhall School of Music, London |date=2006 |access-date=2008-07-08}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}}

Another example arises from Sondheim's roots as a speaker of American rather than British English: The line "Don't you love farce?" features two juxtaposed [[Fricative consonant#Central non-sibilant fricatives|labiodental fricative]] sounds (the former [''v''] voiced, the latter [''f''] devoiced). American concert and stage performers will often fail to "breathe" and/or "voice" between the two fricatives, leading audiences familiar with British slang to hear "Don't you love [[Buttocks|arse]]?", misinterpreting the lyric or at the least perceiving an unintended [[double entendre]]. Sondheim agrees that "[i]t's an awkward moment in the lyric, but that ''v'' and that ''f'' should be separated."<ref name=Guildhall_I />

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".<ref name=Guildhall_II /> Similarly, Sondheim insists that performers separately enunciate the adjacent ''t'''s in the line, "There ought to be clowns."<ref name=Guildhall_II />

==Popular success==
{{Infobox song
| name       = Send In the Clowns
| cover      = 
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Judy Collins]]
| album      = [[Judith (album)|Judith]]
| B-side     = Houses
| released   = {{Start date|1975|05}}
| recorded   = 1975
| studio     = [[A&R Recording Studios]], New York
| venue      =
| genre      = [[Pop music|Pop]]
| length     = {{Duration|m=3|s=57}}
| label      = [[Elektra Records|Elektra]]
| writer     = [[Stephen Sondheim]]
| producer   = [[Arif Mardin]]
}}
The musical and the song debuted on Broadway in 1973. The song became popular with theater audiences, but had not become a pop hit. Sondheim explained how the song became a hit:

{{Blockquote|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.<ref name=Academy />}}

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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sinatra Song of the Century 85| author=Mark Steyn | date=20 November 2015 |url=https://www.steynonline.com/7304/send-in-the-clowns |access-date=17 October 2019}}</ref> Sinatra's version plays in the end credits of Todd Phillips' 2019 film ''[[Joker (2019 film)|Joker]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gorber |first1=Jason |title=How the 'Joker' Soundtrack Complements the Film's Vicious Vision |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/joker-soundtrack/ |website=[[/Film]] |access-date=3 November 2019 |date=15 October 2019}}</ref>

Two years later Judy Collins recorded "Send in the Clowns" for her album ''[[Judith (album)|Judith]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Billboard |work=Send in the Clowns, by Judy Collins |publisher=Asylum Records |year=1975 |url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=judy collins|chart=all}} |format=Album |access-date=8 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701094433/http://www.billboard.com/artist/305342/judy+collins/chart |archive-date=1 July 2015}}</ref> The song was released as a single, which soon became a major pop hit. It remained on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] for 11 weeks in 1975, reaching Number 36.<ref name="Billboard Hot 100">{{cite web |title=Billboard Hot 100 |work=Send in the Clowns, by Judy Collins |date=30 August 1975 |url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/1975-08-30/hot-100 |access-date=8 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704233207/http://www.billboard.com/charts/1975-08-30/hot-100 |archive-date=4 July 2013}}</ref> The single again reached the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977, where it remained for 16 weeks and reached Number 19.<ref>{{cite web |title=Billboard Hot 100 |work=Send in the Clowns, by Judy Collins |date=19 November 1977 |url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/1977-11-19/hot-100 |access-date=8 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314031701/http://www.billboard.com/charts/1977-11-19/hot-100 |archive-date=14 March 2015}}</ref> At the [[Grammy Awards of 1976]], the Collins performance of the song was named Song of the Year.<ref>{{cite web |title=18th Annual Grammy Awards, Song of the Year |work=Send in the Clowns, written by Stephen Sondheim, performed by Judy Collins |year=1975 |url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/18th-annual-grammy-awards-1975 |access-date=31 January 2021}}</ref> After Sinatra and Collins recorded the song, it was recorded by [[Bing Crosby]], [[Kenny Rogers]], and [[Lou Rawls]].

[[Grace Jones]] recorded a seven-and-a-half minute [[disco]] version the song in 1977 as the lead track of her debut album, ''[[Portfolio (Grace Jones album)|Portfolio]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schildcrout |first=Jordan |date=December 2023 |title=Sondheim at the Disco |url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/smt_00142_1 |journal=Studies in Musical Theatre |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=283–292|doi=10.1386/smt_00142_1 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[Olivia Newton-John]] recorded the song for her 2004 album, ''[[Indigo: Women of Song]]''.

In 1985, Sondheim added a verse for [[Barbra Streisand]] to use on ''[[The Broadway Album]]'' and subsequent concert performances.<ref name="StreisandArchivesBroadwayAlbum">{{cite web | title=Broadway Album (1985) | website=Barbra Streisand Archives | url=http://barbra-archives.com/record/albums/broadway_album.html | access-date=15 July 2019 | archive-date=21 July 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721151339/http://barbra-archives.com/record/albums/broadway_album.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> Her version reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart in 1986.<ref>{{cite web |title=Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks |work=Send in the Clowns, by Barbra Streisand |date=29 March 1986 |url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/1986-03-29/adult-contemporary |access-date=8 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710024502/http://www.billboard.com/charts/1986-03-29/adult-contemporary |archive-date=10 July 2015}}</ref>

The song has become a [[jazz]] standard, with performances by [[Count Basie]], [[Sarah Vaughan]], the [[Stan Kenton Orchestra]] and many others. It has been recorded by more than 900 singers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Showstoppers!: the surprising backstage stories of Broadway's most remarkable songs |last=Nachman, Gerald |isbn=9781613731024 |oclc=945121418 |page=263|date=November 2016 |publisher=Chicago Review Press }}</ref>

American ambient duo [[Stars of the Lid]] for their 2007 album ''[[And Their Refinement of the Decline]]'' use the melody of "Send In the Clowns" on the track "Don't Bother They're Here", the title itself referencing a line from the song.

==Chart history==
===Weekly charts===
;Judy Collins
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (1975)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name="auto">{{cite book |first=David |last=Kent |author-link=David Kent (historian) |title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 |publisher=Australian Chart Book |location=[[St Ives, New South Wales|St Ives]], N.S.W. |year=1993 |isbn=0-646-11917-6|title-link=Kent Music Report }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
|Canada ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.3990&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.3990.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.3990 |title=Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=19 July 1975 |access-date=3 March 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|38
|-
|Canada ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.4009b&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.4009b.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.4009b |title=Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=30 August 1975 |access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|52
|-
|{{Single chart|Ireland2|3|song=Send in the Clowns|access-date=February 14, 2019}}
|-
|New Zealand (''[[New Zealand Listener|Listener]]'')<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search+rianz&qartistid=731#n_view_location|title=flavour of new zealand - search rianz|website=Flavourofnz.co.nz|access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|23
|-
|[[UK Singles Chart]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/send-in-the-clowns/ |title=Official Charts Company |website=Officialcharts.com |date=17 May 1975 |access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
|US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]<ref name="Billboard Hot 100"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|36
|-
|US ''Billboard'' [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|Adult Contemporary]]
| style="text-align:center;"|8
|-
|US [[Cash Box (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19750816.html|title=Cash Box Top 100 8/16/75|website=Tropicalglen.com|access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref>
|align="center"|53
|-
|}
{{col-2}}

===Year-end charts===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Chart (1975)
! style="text-align:center;"|Rank
|-
|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name="aus75">{{cite web|url=https://imgur.com/a/8a2fnGs|title= National Top 100 Singles for 1975|publisher= [[Kent Music Report]] |issue= 79 |via= [[Imgur]] |date= December 29, 1975 |access-date=  January 15, 2022 }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|86
|-
|UK 
| style="text-align:center;"|85
|-
|}
{{col-end}}

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (1977–78)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Canada ''RPM'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5451a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.5451a.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5451a |title=Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=10 December 1977 |access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|15
|-
|Canada ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Adult Contemporary<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5453&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.5453.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5453 |title=Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=10 December 1977 |access-date=3 March 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]<ref>''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990'' – {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|19
|-
|US ''Billboard'' [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|Adult Contemporary]]
| style="text-align:center;"|15
|-
|US [[Cash Box (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19771126.html|title=Cash Box Top 100 11/26/77|website=Tropicalglen.com|access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref>
|align="center"|17
|-
|}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Chart (1977)
! style="text-align:center;"|Rank
|-
|Canada ''RPM'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5502b&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.5502b.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5502b |title=Top 200 Singles of '77 – Volume 28, No. 11, December 31 1977 |work=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]] |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]] |access-date=28 December 2017|date=17 July 2013 }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|132
|-
|}
{{col-end}}
;Lani Hall
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Chart (1984)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Canada ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.6298&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.6298.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.6298 |title=Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=24 March 1984 |access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|19
|-
|US ''Billboard'' [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|Adult Contemporary]]
| style="text-align:center;"|18
|}
;Barbra Streisand
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Chart (1986)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Canada ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.9422&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.9422.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.9422 |title=Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=10 May 1986 |access-date=3 March 2019}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
|US ''Billboard'' [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|Adult Contemporary]]
| style="text-align:center;"|25
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{YouTube|7Yu3SUlEhWA|Send in the Clowns}}
*[http://www.sondheimguide.com/night.html Sondheim Guide to the Play]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080509073012/http://www.sondheimreview.com/v5n1.htm Sondheim Review]
*[http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/Sondheim/littlenightmusic.htm Notes to the Play]
*[http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/alittlenightmusic/sendintheclowns.htm Send in the Clowns Lyrics]

{{Frank Sinatra singles}}
{{Smiles of a Summer Night}}
{{Grammy Award for Song of the Year}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Send In The Clowns}}
[[Category:1970s ballads]]
[[Category:Pop ballads]]
[[Category:Songs from Stephen Sondheim musicals]]
[[Category:1970s jazz standards]]
[[Category:Barbra Streisand songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by Stephen Sondheim]]
[[Category:Grammy Award for Song of the Year]]
[[Category:Judy Collins songs]]
[[Category:Frank Sinatra songs]]
[[Category:Lani Hall songs]]
[[Category:Songs about loneliness]]
[[Category:1973 songs]]
[[Category:1975 singles]]
[[Category:1977 singles]]
[[Category:Elektra Records singles]]