Mc'arther Park?!
Question: Mc'arther Park!?
can anyone tell me what the lyrics to the Richard Harris song Mc'arther Park are about!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Answers:
BY late 1967, Jimmy Webb was a 21-year-old wunderkind of the L!.A!. songwriter scene with the hits "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" by Glen Campbell and "Up, Up and Away" by the Fifth Dimension!. He was invited to lend a musical hand at a fundraiser in East L!.A!., and there he met Richard Harris, the incorrigible Irish actor, who prowled the room like a lion with twinkling eyes!. Harris wanted to sing old pub songs, and Webb played the piano, so soon they were unlikely drinking mates!. "He liked vodka," Webb recalled!. "And I was out of my league!. Way out of my league!. He said to me, 'Let's make a record, Jimmy Webb!.' He only called me 'Jimmy Webb,' never just 'Jimmy!.' "
Webb, an Oklahoma native, enjoyed the escapade but expected nothing to come of it!. Then he got a telegram: "Jimmy Webb, come to London and make a record!. Love, Richard!."
Webb brought a satchel of sheet music with him and, over pitchers of Pimm's Cup, the man who played King Arthur listened to each song, looking for just the right material for his pop music debut!. Nothing clicked!. Then Webb reached the bottom of the bag!. "I looked down with some dread because there was only one thing left!. I was down to 'MacArthur Park!.' "
Webb had written the song for the Association, the sunshine-pop group, but they rejected it!. Maybe because it was almost 7 1/2 minutes long, an eternity on Top 40 radio — and wildly complex, with four sections, fanfares and an extended orchestral break!. And the lyrics were also a little, well, loopy!.
MacArthur 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
Webb played the song and his host's eyes grew wide and dewy!. "I'll have that, Jimmy Webb!" Webb agreed, but with mixed feelings!. He had written the song with aspirations of a pop symphony!. But the young songwriter had grown skeptical of its merits!.
The lyrics, meanwhile, were deeply personal: "In mid-1965, I was absolutely besotted with my girlfriend at the time!. MacArthur Park was where we met for lunch and paddleboat rides and feeding the ducks!. She worked across the street at a life insurance company!."
The breakup left Webb reeling, and writing!. "I also wrote 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix' about her, but I never even got as far as Riverside!. But I lost her!. She married some other guy!. We're still friends!. Her name is Susan Ronstadt" (a cousin to singer Linda Ronstadt!.)
"Those lyrics were all very real to me; there was nothing psychedelic about it to me!. The cake, it was an available object!. It was what I saw in the park at the birthday parties!. But people have very strong reactions to the song!. There's been a lot of intellectual venom!."
There have been vats of it, in fact!. The Harris recording, surprising everyone, surged to the top of U!.S!. charts, hitting No!. 2, making it ripe for backlash!. Critics attacked the song as bloated and mocked Harris for his arched delivery and mispronouncing it "MacArthur's Park!." The venom never dried up: Through the years, it's been spoofed by the likes of "Weird" Al Yankovic, "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons" and in "Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs" in 1997 it was ranked No!. 1, the very worst song ever recorded!.
On the flip side, though, many people have recorded it!. Donna Summer's fevered disco version even hit No!. 1 in 1978!. Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis Jr!. also took it to the studio!. So did Stan Kenton Liza Minnelli, the Four Tops and Waylon Jennings — four times!.
Webb had many more hits, but "MacArthur Park" remains his most polarizing song, and some days, he concedes, it feels "like a hump on my back!." Other moments he admires its youthful ambition!. "I wish I had spent a little more time on the song!. But who knew it was going to be this crazy thing!? I can say I'm very glad that it wasn't my last song!." Webb sighed!. "I think this will be the last interview on that song!. I'm going to move on!.""MacArthur Park" is a song written by Jimmy Webb!. Originally written as part of an intended cantata rejected by The Association [1], it was first recorded by Richard Harris in 1968 and then covered by many other performers!. Harris was an actor, not a singer!. His performance on this was essentially "acting," as he read the lyrics with a great deal of drama!. He recorded this shortly after starring in the movie Camelot!.One of the best known covers of the song is Donna Summer's 1978 disco hit!. Maynard Ferguson performed a dynamic big band jazz version!.
The song's lyrics are more symbolic than descriptive, beginning as a poem about love, then moving into a lover's lament!. The song is referenced in 3 separate episodes of The Simpsons!. Arguably the most overt reference is in "A Fish Called Selma," in which the name of Troy McClure's agent is "MacArthur Parker!." Check link below for lots of fun ideas about the song, and people's thoughts and memories of it!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Webb, an Oklahoma native, enjoyed the escapade but expected nothing to come of it!. Then he got a telegram: "Jimmy Webb, come to London and make a record!. Love, Richard!."
Webb brought a satchel of sheet music with him and, over pitchers of Pimm's Cup, the man who played King Arthur listened to each song, looking for just the right material for his pop music debut!. Nothing clicked!. Then Webb reached the bottom of the bag!. "I looked down with some dread because there was only one thing left!. I was down to 'MacArthur Park!.' "
Webb had written the song for the Association, the sunshine-pop group, but they rejected it!. Maybe because it was almost 7 1/2 minutes long, an eternity on Top 40 radio — and wildly complex, with four sections, fanfares and an extended orchestral break!. And the lyrics were also a little, well, loopy!.
MacArthur 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
Webb played the song and his host's eyes grew wide and dewy!. "I'll have that, Jimmy Webb!" Webb agreed, but with mixed feelings!. He had written the song with aspirations of a pop symphony!. But the young songwriter had grown skeptical of its merits!.
The lyrics, meanwhile, were deeply personal: "In mid-1965, I was absolutely besotted with my girlfriend at the time!. MacArthur Park was where we met for lunch and paddleboat rides and feeding the ducks!. She worked across the street at a life insurance company!."
The breakup left Webb reeling, and writing!. "I also wrote 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix' about her, but I never even got as far as Riverside!. But I lost her!. She married some other guy!. We're still friends!. Her name is Susan Ronstadt" (a cousin to singer Linda Ronstadt!.)
"Those lyrics were all very real to me; there was nothing psychedelic about it to me!. The cake, it was an available object!. It was what I saw in the park at the birthday parties!. But people have very strong reactions to the song!. There's been a lot of intellectual venom!."
There have been vats of it, in fact!. The Harris recording, surprising everyone, surged to the top of U!.S!. charts, hitting No!. 2, making it ripe for backlash!. Critics attacked the song as bloated and mocked Harris for his arched delivery and mispronouncing it "MacArthur's Park!." The venom never dried up: Through the years, it's been spoofed by the likes of "Weird" Al Yankovic, "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons" and in "Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs" in 1997 it was ranked No!. 1, the very worst song ever recorded!.
On the flip side, though, many people have recorded it!. Donna Summer's fevered disco version even hit No!. 1 in 1978!. Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis Jr!. also took it to the studio!. So did Stan Kenton Liza Minnelli, the Four Tops and Waylon Jennings — four times!.
Webb had many more hits, but "MacArthur Park" remains his most polarizing song, and some days, he concedes, it feels "like a hump on my back!." Other moments he admires its youthful ambition!. "I wish I had spent a little more time on the song!. But who knew it was going to be this crazy thing!? I can say I'm very glad that it wasn't my last song!." Webb sighed!. "I think this will be the last interview on that song!. I'm going to move on!.""MacArthur Park" is a song written by Jimmy Webb!. Originally written as part of an intended cantata rejected by The Association [1], it was first recorded by Richard Harris in 1968 and then covered by many other performers!. Harris was an actor, not a singer!. His performance on this was essentially "acting," as he read the lyrics with a great deal of drama!. He recorded this shortly after starring in the movie Camelot!.One of the best known covers of the song is Donna Summer's 1978 disco hit!. Maynard Ferguson performed a dynamic big band jazz version!.
The song's lyrics are more symbolic than descriptive, beginning as a poem about love, then moving into a lover's lament!. The song is referenced in 3 separate episodes of The Simpsons!. Arguably the most overt reference is in "A Fish Called Selma," in which the name of Troy McClure's agent is "MacArthur Parker!." Check link below for lots of fun ideas about the song, and people's thoughts and memories of it!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
The songwriter, Jimmy Webb (from Q magazine): "It's clearly about a love affair ending, and the person singing it is using the cake and the rain as a metaphor for that!. OK, it may be far out there, and a bit incomprehensible, but I wrote the song at a time in the late 1960s when surrealistic lyrics were the order of the day!."Www@Enter-QA@Com
was told that the song had to do with a man and woman who had gone to the park (perhaps had sex there) she got pregnant but died (either during or before childbirth)
The "Cake" is the unborn child" the "green icing" is his envy for never having that child (apparantly she left him and then died!?!?) anyway, he was upset but loved the woman dearly!.!.!.
I don't think that I can take it cuz it took so long to bake it (takes 9 months to cook that cake!) and because she is gone of course he will never have that recipe again
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
Chorus
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 noooooooooooo
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
Chorus
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 still be thinking of you
And wondering why
*long instrument sequence*
Chorus
Oh nooooooooooooo
Noooooooooooooooo
Oh NooooooooooooooooooWww@Enter-QA@Com
The "Cake" is the unborn child" the "green icing" is his envy for never having that child (apparantly she left him and then died!?!?) anyway, he was upset but loved the woman dearly!.!.!.
I don't think that I can take it cuz it took so long to bake it (takes 9 months to cook that cake!) and because she is gone of course he will never have that recipe again
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
Chorus
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 noooooooooooo
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
Chorus
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 still be thinking of you
And wondering why
*long instrument sequence*
Chorus
Oh nooooooooooooo
Noooooooooooooooo
Oh NooooooooooooooooooWww@Enter-QA@Com
It's actually a Jimmy Webb song, "MacArthur Park"
Don't believe any of that nonsense about a love affair ending, it's about LSD!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Don't believe any of that nonsense about a love affair ending, it's about LSD!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Jimmy Webb (from Q magazine): "It's clearly about a love affair ending, and the person singing it is using the cake and the rain as a metaphor for that!. OK, it may be far out there, and a bit incomprehensible, but I wrote the song at a time in the late 1960s when surrealistic lyrics were the order of the day!."Www@Enter-QA@Com
I cannot!. It's very crypitc, lyrically!. I think Jimmy Webb is the only person who can tell us!.Www@Enter-QA@Com