Billy Barnes is not exactly a household name in the
annals of the Great American songbook but he had a successful career as a
composer and lyricist. Maybe his
relative anonymity is because so much of his work was for TV rather than the
stage, but one recognizable hit alone catapulted him into the company of some
of the greats, "(Have I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair." My attraction to the song is similar to the
one I have for Jerry Herman’s romantic ballad, “I Won’t Send Roses,” both
bittersweet, haunting, regretful.
It takes an exceptional lyricist to make a great song so
memorable. Barnes’ song crafting created
a certain kind of poignancy in this one, rendering it a classic. One can listen to two completely different versions on YouTube, Barbra Streisand’s highly
stylized rendition recorded early in her career and Rosemary Clooney’s recorded
late in hers. Clooney has the
perspective of an older woman with life’s experience to “sell” the song. After all, it is more about a mature, “successful”
woman, now alone “in a carnival city.”
My own piano recording can’t do the song justice without
the words and you’ll note the ambiguity of my timing. The song is written in 4/4 time, but the
lyrics cry out for it to be played in a waltz tempo so frequently associated
with the merry-go-round of the lyrics and I’m constantly drawn in and then out of that tempo so my version is simply the
way I feel it, wrong timing and all. But
I would like to add this to my YouTube library of some of my favorites.
For a full appreciation, the lyrics are necessary:
I wanted the music to play on forever
Have I stayed too long at the fair?
I wanted the clown to be constantly clever
Have I stayed too long at the fair?
I bought my blue ribbons to tie up my hair
But couldn't find anybody to care
The merry-go-round is beginning to taunt now
Have I stayed too long at the fair?
Oh mother dear, I know you're very proud
Your little girl in gingham is so far from the crowd
No daddy dear, you never could have known
That I would be successful, yet so very alone
I wanted to live in a carnival city
With laughter everywhere
I wanted my friends to be thrilling and witty
I wanted somebody to care
I found my blue ribbons all shiny and new
But now I discover them no longer blue
The merry-go-round is beginning to taunt me
Have I stayed too long at the fair?
There's nothing to win
And there's no one to want me
Have I stayed too long at the fair?
