For LES
"MacArthur Park" is a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally written as part of an intended cantata rejected by The Association,it was first recorded by Richard Harris in 1968 and then covered by many other performers. One of the best known covers of the song is the Donna Summer disco 1978 hit. Maynard Ferguson performed a dynamic big band jazz version.
The song is named after MacArthur Park, a park in Los Angeles, California. Its lyrics, which include the memorable line "Someone left the cake out in the rain", are more symbolic than descriptive, beginning as a poem about love, then moving into a lover's lament.
Harris recording
The song was first recorded by Harris on his album A Tramp Shining in 1968 and was released as a single. It was an unusual single, running for more than seven minutes, with a long, climactic orchestral break. Harris's topped the music charts in Europe and peaked at number two on the U.S. charts.
Harris sings the song's final chorus at an elevated pitch with what sounds like the top of Harris's falsetto range, but the final line is sung with an echo effect abruptly apparent and in a high and clear soprano whistle register.
Throughout his recording Harris can be heard using the incorrect possessive form, "MacArthur's Park". Webb has said he tried correcting Harris during re-takes, but gave up when he simply could not sing the correct words.
A multi-million selling disco version of the song by Donna Summer topped the U.S. charts for three weeks in 1978. Her recording, which was included as part of the "MacArthur Park Suite" on her double album Live and More, ran to 8:40 in its full-length version. The shorter single edit of the song was Summer's first single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The 17:47 long medley "MacArthur Park Suite", which incorporates the songs "One Of A Kind" and "Heaven Knows", was also issued as a 12" promo, which stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for five weeks in 1978.
The song has been covered more than fifty times, including versions by The Fifth Dimension, Waylon Jennings, Frank Sinatra, Beggar's Opera, Hugo Montenegro, The Queers, The Negro Problem, Glen Campbell, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Sammy Davis, Jr., Justin Hayward, The Four Tops, Stephen Adams, Vic Damone, Michael Feinstein, The Three Degrees and Liza Minnelli. Ed Ames recorded a version featuring only the middle section as "After all the loves of my life". The Four Tops recorded their version of the song, omitting the long instrumental breaks of the song, and reached #38 on the Billboard singles chart. The song was also performed by the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps in several productions in the mid-1970s.
Words to Song
Spring was never waiting for us, girl
It ran one step ahead
As we followed in the dance
Between the parted pages and were pressed
In love's hot, fevered iron
Like a striped pair of pants
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!
I recall the yellow cotton dress
Foaming like a wave
On the ground around your knees
The birds, like tender babies in your hands
And the old men playing checkers by the trees
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!
[break]
There will be another song for me
For I will sing it
There will be another dream for me
Someone will bring it
I will drink the wine while it is warm
And never let you catch me looking at the sun
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
You'll still be the one
I will take my life into my hands and I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow like rivers through the sky
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
I'll be thinking of you
And wondering why
[extended break]
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!
Oh, no
No, no
Oh no!!
Other tags:
Gentle On My Mind
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife
Witchita Lineman
Galveston