Que Entrem os Palhaços

No circo e no teatro vaudeville, frente a um acontecimento inesperado e concorrente com a cena, os palhaços eram chamados para salvar o espetáculo. È esta a origem do título da balada Send In the Clowns, escrita em 1973 pelo prolífico Stephen Soldhein para o musical A Little Night Music. Premiada com Toni e Grammy, tornou-se um sucesso nas mais variadas vozes, inclusive como jazz standard, dentre as quais se destaca a interpretação de Sarah Vaughan, que o meu gosto musical considera como a melhor, quer pela técnica de diafragma para a divisão silábica, quer pela contida interpretação que ela imprime a essa canção reflexiva sobre as ironias da vida.
Eis a letra:

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

What a surprise.
Who could foresee
I'd come to feel about you
What you'd felt about me?
Why only now when i see
That you'd drifted away?
What a surprise.
What a cliché.

Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer?
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
And where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don't bother - they're here.