Though born in Seattle, Washington (where she spent the first ten years of her life), she moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1949. As a child Collins studied classical piano with Antonia Brico, making her public debut at age 13 performing Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos. It was the music of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and the traditional songs of the folk revival of the early 1960s, that piqued Collins' interest and awoke in her a love of lyrics. Three years after her debut as a piano prodigy, she was playing guitar. She eventually made her way to Greenwich Village, New York City, where she busked and played in clubs until she signed with Elektra Records, a record label with which she was associated for 35 years. In 1961, Collins released her first album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, at the age of 22.
At first she sang traditional folk songs, or songs written by others, in particular the social poets of the time, such as Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Bob Dylan. She recorded her own versions of seminal songs of the period, such as Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Pete Seeger's "Turn, Turn, Turn". Collins was also instrumental in bringing then little known composers to a wider public; for example, she recorded songs by Canadian poet Leonard Cohen, and Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.
With her 1967 album Wildflowers, she began to record her own compositions, the first of which was entitled "Since You've Asked". This album also provided Collins with a major hit, and a Grammy award, with her version of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now", which reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1968's Who Knows Where the Time Goes was produced by Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills & Nash), with whom Collins was romantically involved at the time (she is the "Judy" of the Stills-written CSN classic "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"). It had a mellow country sound, and included Ian Tyson's "Someday Soon" and the title track, a Sandy Denny song which has been covered by several artists.
By the 1970s, Collins had a solid reputation as an art song singer and folksinger. She had also begun to stand out with her own compositions. She was also known for her broad range of material: her songs from this period include the traditional gospel song "Amazing Grace", the Stephen Sondheim Broadway ballad "Send in the Clowns" (both of which were top 20 hits as singles), and her own compositions such as "My Father" and "Born to the Breed".
In 1979 she posed nude on the album "Hard Times For Lovers".
In more recent years, Collins has taken to writing, producing a memoir, "Trust Your Heart" in 1987, and two novels. Though her record sales are not what they once were, she still records and tours. One of her more recent albums is a collection of songs based on her novel Shameless. She performed at US President Bill Clinton's first inauguration in 1993, singing "Amazing Grace" and "Chelsea Morning". (The Clintons have stated that their daughter Chelsea was named after Collins' recording of the Joni Mitchell song.)
Activism
Like other folk singers of her generation, Collins was drawn to social activism. She is a representative for UNICEF and campaigns on behalf of the abolition of landmines. Following the 1992 death of her son Clark Taylor at age 33 after a long bout with depression and substance abuse, she has also become a strong advocate of suicide prevention. Her 2003 book, Sanity & Grace, chronicles her recovery from her son's suicide and attempts to provide some comfort and guidance to other families dealing with the loss of a loved one to suicide. She describes the "Seven T's" as a means for going through this process of recovery: Truth, Therapy, Trust, Try, Treat, Treasure, and Thrive. The Truth is that there should be no guilt in suicide; Therapy helps people express their emotions and seek grief counseling; Trust is the effort to believe that one can make it through the loss and keep a belief in life and in the future; Try means to stay away from drugs and alcohol or any excess--including overeating--as a means to deal with the loss and pain; Treat means to take care of the mind, body, and spirit with exercise and meditation; Treasure means to keep the memory of the moments to be treasured, and for this Collins recommends writing and keeping a journal; and Thrive means to be positive, hopeful, open to love and others, and continuing to know that you can rebuild your life on a basis of hope.
Awards and recognition
Grammy Award, Best Folk Performance or Folk Recording, "Both Sides Now", 1968
Grammy Award, Song of the Year, "Send in the Clowns", 1975
Nominated with Jill Godmillow for an Academy Award for the documentary "Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman" (1975), about her classical piano instructor, conductor Antonia Brico.
Discography
Maid of Constant Sorrow (1961)
The Golden Apples of the Sun (1962)
Judy Collins #3 (1964)
The Judy Collins Concert (1964)
Judy Collins' Fifth Album (1965)
In My Life (1966)
Wildflowers (1967)
Who Knows Where The Time Goes? (1968)
Whales and Nightingales (1970)
Both Sides Now (1971)
Living (1971) (Live)
Colors of the Day (1972) (Greatest Hits)
True Stories, and Other Dreams (1973)
Judith (1975)
Bread and Roses (1976)
So Early in the Spring (1977) (15th anniversary collection)
Hard Times for Lovers (1979)
Running for My Life (1980)
Times of Our Lives (1982)
Home Again (1984)
Trust Your Heart (1987)
The Stars Of Christmas (Selected Especially For Avon) (1988)
Sanity and Grace (1989)
Fires of Eden (1990)
Baby's Bedtime (1990)
Baby's Morningtime (1990)
Judy Sings Dylan... Just Like a Woman (1993)
Come Rejoice! A Judy Collins Christmas (1994)
Shameless (1994)
Voices (1995)
Christmas at the Biltmore Estate (1997)
Forever: An Anthology (1997)
Both Sides Now (1998)
Classic Broadway (1999)
All on a Wintry Night (2000)
Judy Collins Live at Wolf Trap (2000)
Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy (2004)
The Essential Judy Collins (2004)
Portrait of an American Girl (2006)
Videography
Baby's Bedtime (1992)
Baby's Morningtime (1992)
Junior playing the operator of a home for unwed mothers opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger
Christmas at the Biltmore Estate (1998)
The Best of Judy Collins (1999)
Intimate Portrait: Judy Collins (2000)
Judy Collins Live at Wolf Trap (2003)
Wildflower Festival (2003) (DVD with guest artists Eric Andersen, Arlo Guthrie, and Tom Rush)
Bibliography
Trust Your Heart (1987)
Amazing Grace (1991)
Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival and Strength (2003)
Send In The Clowns
Judy Collins Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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 can't move,
Where are the clowns?
There ought to be 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
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
Judy Collins's song Send In The Clowns depicts a person who is pondering their life choices and reflecting on the fact that things have not turned out how they had hoped. The opening lines of the song, "Isn't it rich?/ Are we a pair?" sets the tone for the introspective and melancholic nature of the song. The person singing the song is frustrated with their situation; they are "on the ground" while the person they want to be with is "in mid-air", out of reach. They are confused and flustered: "Don't you love farce?/ My fault, I fear/ I thought that you'd want what I want/ Sorry, my dear!". These lines reveal their frustration with life and the feeling that the odds are not in their favour.
The lyrics "Where are the clowns?/ There ought to be clowns" suggest that the person singing the song is waiting for something to happen. They are waiting for a sign or something to give them some clarity. They are looking for clowns because they represent happiness and joy, something that is missing from their life. The concluding line, "Well, maybe next year" adds a sense of hope to the song. The person singing the song is not giving up, and they are hopeful that things will turn around.
Line by Line Meaning
Isn't it rich?
Isn't it absurd that despite all of our wealth and good fortune, we still can't seem to find true happiness and contentment?
Are we a pair?
Are we two people who are meant to be together, or are we just two lost souls trying to navigate our way through life?
Me here at last on the ground,
I've been wandering in the clouds for so long, but now I've finally landed and am ready to face reality.
You in mid-air,
Meanwhile, you still seem to be floating in a dream world, disconnected from what's really happening around you.
Where are the clowns?
Where are the people who are supposed to bring us joy and laughter, who are meant to entertain us and make our troubles disappear?
Isn't it bliss?
Aren't we supposed to be in a state of perfect happiness and contentment, free from all worry and strife?
Don't you approve?
Am I doing things right? Are you proud of me? Do I have your support and admiration?
One who keeps tearing around,
One of us is always busy and constantly on the move, never able to stop and enjoy the moment.
One who can't move,
The other is feeling stuck, unable to make progress or move forward in life.
Where are the clowns?
Once again, we find ourselves searching for the people who can bring us some sense of joy and make us forget our troubles.
There ought to be clowns?
It seems like there should be someone out there who can help us see the humor in our situation and bring some much-needed levity to our lives.
Just when I'd stopped opening doors,
I had finally given up on trying to find love and happiness, when suddenly you appeared in my life and changed everything.
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours
I realized that you were the one I had been searching for all along, but unfortunately, you were already taken by someone else.
Making my entrance again with my usual flair
Here I am, back on the scene and making a big impression with my natural charm and confidence.
Sure of my lines
I feel like I know exactly what I'm doing and saying, and I'm confident that I can make things work out the way I want them to.
No one is there
But unfortunately, you're not there to witness my impressive arrival on the scene.
Don't you love farce?
Don't you find it entertaining and amusing when things don't go according to plan, and life becomes a bit of a joke?
My fault, I fear
I'm sorry, but I have to take responsibility for the fact that things didn't work out between us.
I thought that you'd want what I want
I mistakenly assumed that our desires and goals were aligned, and that we both wanted the same things in life.
Sorry, my dear!
I apologize for the fact that I got it all wrong, and that I wasn't able to make you happy in the way that I had hoped.
But where are the clowns
Once again, we're searching for that elusive source of joy and laughter that can make everything right again.
Send in the clowns
We need someone to come in and save the day, to bring us some much-needed relief and take us away from our problems.
Don't bother, they're here
But then again, maybe we don't need anyone else to bring us joy and laughter, because we can find it in each other.
Isn't it rich?
Once again, we're back to this sense of absurdity and irony, where we have all of the good fortune one could ask for, and yet we're still searching for something more.
Isn't it queer?
Aren't our lives just a little bit strange and unusual, filled with unexpected twists and turns that we never could have predicted?
Losing my timing this late in my career
I'm starting to feel like I've lost my sense of how to navigate through the world, even though I should have figured it out by now.
But where are the clowns?
And once again, we're looking for those elusive sources of joy and laughter that can help us forget our troubles and see the world in a new light.
There ought to be clowns
There really should be someone out there who can make us laugh and bring a little bit of magic into our lives.
Well, maybe next year
But for now, it seems like we'll have to keep looking and hoping that things will get better at some point in the future.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Stephen Sondheim
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@roflmows
A Little Night Music was my wife's favorite musical ever, and this was her very favorite showtune in the whole world.
she passed away from a rare type of brain tumor, just 3 weeks from our 10th anniversary. she was 34 years old.
you know what she said to me the day before she died?
"promise me you'll listen to this song with someone else someday, and that you'll fall in love all over again. you're too amazing of a person to live without love. don't waste your beautiful spirit, your precious life, and all the love you have to give mourning me forever."
my god, i miss her.
@thepagan5432
A beautiful song by a beautiful person. I'm terminally ill with Pulmonary Fibrosis, no cure, very little meaningful treatment and non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis. This song always brings a wee tear to my eyes. Not sad, happy for every extra day I get. There are always people worse off than I am, I wish them well. Definitely one of the better songs dealing with a sad chapter in life.
@hamptonpontiac7196
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. If you confess with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead - you shall be saved.
@johnstemmet1458
I am sending you so much love ( and clowns) from South Africa. X
@jezzatakla
I wish you well. Love and Peace.
@thegreyavenger2
Try a whole food plant based diet I’ve read studies that thru that some have beaten terminal disease
@INriversmallies12
…the bittersweet of life. Sending prayers to you dear Enjoy every moment.
@awesomegrandma2480
Sadly, my dad passed away at home in front of me in 1979 when I was 14. He had terminal cancer and had been ill for sometime. This was his favorite song. It was a moment we shared before he passed, listening to this repeatedly while he held my hand. We wore that 45 out that weekend. I believe now, that this song had a deeper meaning to him than I could have ever possibly comprehended all those long years ago. I understand now, Dad. When I hear this hauntingly beautiful song sung by Judy Collins, I close my eyes and can once again remember his face. I thank her for that. I miss you Daddy. ❤️❤️
@purplequeen1727
♥♥
@codyjones1098
ty for sharing your thoughts and heart ty
@awesomegrandma2480
codyjones109 thank you. I’m saddened and yet mystified to share that the day I posted this, my brother, who was also home with me and Mom that day in 1979, has passed away. (the day after I listened to this and posted the comment) The day I posted, unbeknownst to me at that time, he had suffered a massive stroke and was being life flighted to a hospital in Indiana. I am in shock and disbelief. There’s a reason I came here to listen to this song last week. Absolutely undeniable to me. Rest peacefully Kevin. Until I am with my family again. Brought together by this song...