Dear listeners,
Today — after announcing it just a few days ago — Lady Gaga released “Harlequin,” a companion album to the forthcoming film “Joker: Folie à Deux,” in which she stars as the troubled Harleen Quinzel. Fans clamoring for the next “Bad Romance” will have to wait a little longer: She’s promised that her next album, slated for release in February 2025, will be her return to pop. In the meantime, “Harlequin” is a satisfying showcase for the jazzier and more traditional side of Gaga — and another example of music’s continued obsession with clowns.
Clowns, harlequins, jokers and Pierrots have served as the main characters in countless songs over the years, but they’re rarely there to conjure cheap laughs. More often, the musical clown is a tragic figure, whether he’s shedding tears like Smokey Robinson or hanging his head like the titular fool in an Everly Brothers classic. Gaga’s “Harlequin” fits into this lineage in its own way: There’s a manic brightness to many of her performances (which include standards like “Smile” and “Get Happy”) that barely conceals an underlying darkness and despair.
Today’s playlist is a brief tour through the musical history of clowning, sans the abrasive sounds of Insane Clown Posse. (My apologies; I’m just not a Juggalo.) It contains one of my favorite tracks from Lady Gaga’s new album, along with material from Jenny Lewis, Emeli Sandé and a certain timeless ballad written by Stephen Sondheim. On the off chance you’re one of those people who is afraid of clowns, I sincerely hope it does not inspire any nightmares.
Just like Pagliacci did,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Lady Gaga: “The Joker”
One of the most striking tracks on “Harlequin” is this rendition of “The Joker” — no, not the Steve Miller Band song, but a showstopping number from the 1964 musical “The Roar of the Greasepaint — The Smell of the Crowd.” (It’s been covered by quite a few artists over the years, perhaps most memorably the great Shirley Bassey.) Gaga can of course nail a theatrical tune like this in her sleep, but she brings a fresh energy to “The Joker” by giving it a kind of rock operatic arrangement, complete with electric guitar and a punkish growl in her voice. “Perfect Illusion” apologists, our moment has once again arrived.
2. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles: “The Tears of a Clown”
A young Stevie Wonder and his producer Hank Cosby wrote the instrumental parts of this classic, but when it came time to add lyrics, they were stumped. Inspired by the song’s circuslike calliope riff, Wonder’s Motown labelmate Smokey Robinson took it from there, and the rest is history. Though “The Tears of a Clown” initially appeared on the Miracles’ 1967 album “Make It Happen,” it didn’t become a hit until three years later, when it was released as a single and subsequently topped the American and British charts.
3. The Everly Brothers: “Cathy’s Clown”
One of the Everly Brothers’ biggest and most enduring hits, “Cathy’s Clown” is a bittersweet portrait of a publicly humiliated lover. “Don’t want your love anymore,” Don and Phil Everly croon in tight harmony, while Buddy Harman’s stutter-stepping percussion lends the arrangement an endearing awkwardness.
4. Jenny Lewis: “Party Clown”
“I’m a party clown,” Jenny Lewis sings with an air of self-deprecating pathos on this highlight from her excellent 2019 album “On the Line.” But the song’s lilting melody, oompah piano and vividly clever lyrics keep things from getting too dour.
5. Killing Joke: “Harlequin”
Clown-adjacent references in the band name and song title? That’s definitely going on the playlist! “Let your sense of humor show,” the Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman commands with a sneer on this corrosive track from the influential English goth-punk group’s 1983 album, “Fire Dances.”
6. Emeli Sandé: “Clown”
Another example in the grand tradition of tear-jerking ballads about clowns, the Scottish musician Emeli Sandé has said that this wrenching track from her 2012 debut, “Our Version of Events,” is about the uncomfortable pageantry she experienced when auditioning for record executives early in her career. “I was going to all these meetings and people were looking at me like, ‘What do we do with you?’” she said in 2012. “It’s about not allowing yourself to be judged by others or to be taken for an idiot.”
7. Judy Collins: “Send in the Clowns”
And finally, here’s the ultimate tear-jerking clown ballad, written by Stephen Sondheim for his 1973 musical “A Little Night Music.” Sondheim penned “Send in the Clowns” for the actress Glynis Johns, who originated the musical’s lead role of Desirée; there’s a great sequence in the HBO documentary “Six by Sondheim” in which he explains how the song’s cadences fit within the limitations of Johns’s voice. Over the years, countless other singers have made the standard their own, including Judy Collins, whose emotional 1975 interpretation became an unexpected pop hit.
The Amplifier Playlist
“Send in the Clowns” track list
Track 1: Lady Gaga, “The Joker”
Track 2: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, “The Tears of a Clown”
Track 3: The Everly Brothers, “Cathy’s Clown”
Track 4: Jenny Lewis, “Party Clown”
Track 5: Killing Joke, “Harlequin”
Track 6: Emeli Sandé, “Clown”
Track 7: Judy Collins, “Send in the Clowns”
Bonus Tracks
Speaking of artists who have worn clown drag, I wrote a piece this week asking a pressing question: Is Katy Perry’s latest album “143” really that bad?
Jon Caramanica also assessed the latest controversy in the world of K-pop, where members of the group NewJeans are exposing some of the machinations behind the industry’s curtain.
And Jon Pareles took over this week’s Friday Playlist, recommending new music from the Cure, Mustafa, Stevie Nicks and more. Listen here.
The post Lady Gaga’s ‘Joker,’ and a Tour of Musical Clowning appeared first on New York Times.
