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Reader question: Please explain “swan song”, as in this sentence: “Every performance of Ms. Whelan this season is another swan song.” My comments: Literally Ms. Whelan dances for a few times this season and will be forever gone. Wendy Whelan, that is, the leading dancer of New York City Ballet. From our quote, we can see that it is from a story about Ms. Whelan’s dancing and retirement. She did retire in October, 2017. She’d been at her job for 30 years and was about to hang up her Pointe shoes after the playing season. That’s why every performance you see is another swan song, or last performance. “Swan song” means last performance. Why? Well, according to Greek legend, the beautiful swan bird cannot sing like a goose or quack like an ordinary duck, but it does sing out loud before dying. Hence, the concept of a swan song, something one does before going out of existence. Actually, swans can sing and certainly sing better than the quack-quack duck. But legend being legend, plus people like the idea of a swan singing for the last time so much that the expression prevailed. Wikipedia says “swan song” “had become proverbial in Ancient Greece by the 3rd century BC”. Another question. If the swan song is the last, i.e. final song, then why is Ms. Whelan’s performance another swan song? How can you have more than one last song? | 
