What would Charlie Coroli Think?

A curt and rather unpleasant email from S chastises me for daring to criticise Send in the Clowns which, naturally, he regards as one of the greatest achievements ever, up there, no doubt, with Beethoven’s Fifth and Turner's The Fighting Temeraire. I beg to disagree. This song is smug, self-satisfied with a few cloudy metaphors chucked at the listener to attempt to convey a depth and welter of meaning that, quite simply, I don’t believe to be there. It is dull. Compare and contrast another standard from the Streisand repertoire, Somewhere, which remains moving, dramatic, lacking in pretension, and possesses a depth that doesn’t require a dodgy circus allusion to prove its worth. Bernstein 1, Sondheim 0 in my humble opinion. I am happy to proffer a very public apology should the noble S convince me what the metaphorical 'sending in' of these ruddy and often rather frightening motleyed entertainers actually means. I won’t hold my breath though