"Clowns" is a song by English

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo

Goldfrapp Goldfrapp were an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consisted of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, thei ...

from their fourth studio album, ''

Seventh Tree ''Seventh Tree'' is the fourth studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp, released on 22 February 2008 by Mute Records. It was named after a dream Alison Goldfrapp had about a "very large tree". Taking inspiration from paganism and ...

'' (2008). The song was written and produced by

Alison Goldfrapp Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp (born 13 May 1966) is an English musician and record producer, known as the vocalist of English electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Early life and education Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp was born on 13 Ma ...

and

Will Gregory William Owen Gregory (born 17 September 1959) is an English musician and record producer. He is best known as the lead keyboardist, producer, and composer of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Early life Gregory was born in Bristol, the son ...

. It was released as the album's fourth and final single in October 2008. On 20 October 2008, "Clowns" was made available as a free

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...

from Goldfrapp's official website and

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

page. A live version of the song, performed at the 2008

BBC Electric Proms The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms (formerly the BBC Electric Proms) was an October pop music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006–2010. On 31 January 2011, the BBC announced that the event would be discontinued with immediate ...

, was also released as a free download. As part of the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

's week of free Goldfrapp giveaways, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' released a live version of "Clowns" recorded at Union Chapel in London. The song was played at end of the 2009 film '' Veronika Decides to Die''. It has been covered by

Melora Creager Melora Creager (born March 25, 1966) is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the rock band Rasputina. Early life, beginnings and Rasputina Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and adopted by a graphic designer an ...

of Rasputina. In a video interview with ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

'', Alison Goldfrapp stated the song was about the overabundance of women on reality television with breast implants.

Official versions

#"Clowns" (album version) – 4:10 #"Clowns" (instrumental version) – 4:07 #"Clowns" (live from BBC Electric Proms 2008) – 4:32 #"Clowns" (live from Union Chapel) – 4:22

Charts

References

{{authority control 2000s ballads 2008 singles 2008 songs Folk ballads Goldfrapp songs Mute Records singles Song recordings produced by Flood (producer) Songs about clowns Songs written by Alison Goldfrapp Songs written by Will Gregory