Ruth Leon recommends…Judy Collins: A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim
Ruth Leon recommendsJudy Collins: A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim
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Since Stephen Sondheim died in November, peacefully at home after a good Thanksgiving Dinner with friends, every singer and musician in the known world has pulled together a tribute show to him, ransacking his huge songbook for songs that suit their particular style.
I came across this one from Judy Collins, more folk singer than show singer, and was struck anew at the individualism of the artist, at her ability to put her particular stamp on songs we know well.
Everyone in the music business made a version of Send in the Clowns in the ‘70s but it was Judy Collins’ interpretation that took the song to the top of the charts and into history. She was a great friend of Sondheim’s and the songs in this show are interspersed with her memories and anecdotes. Lovely.
Frank Sinatra recorded “Send In the Clowns” in 1973, ie. two years before Ms. Collins.
I’m sure you’re right, but the SD comment was: “Everyone in the music business made a version of Send in the Clowns in the ‘70s but it was Judy Collins’ interpretation that took the song to the top of the charts and into history.”
Of course, you may disagree with that.
Collins’s version is certainly wonderful. But Sinatra recorded his in the same year “A Little Night Music” opened on Broadway, 1973. Thus, he was the first before “everyone in the music business,” thereby demonstrating the song’s potential to be a stand-alone hit record.
It’s a magnificent song; one of the very best ever written IMO.
IMO in this instance FS’s version pales in comparison with JC. He sounds uniformly depressed whereas she evokes a wide range of emotions from resigned to hopeful. She is simply superb.
First means nothing. Dolly Parton wrote and first sang “I will always love you.” But even she says she gasped when she first heard Whitney Houston’s version while driving her car. Same goes for Judy Collin’s version of “Send in the clowns.” Sondheim learned his craft well (from Oscar Hammerstein) and is one of history’s greatest lyricists.