MacArthur Park lyrics: "The mystery of the melting cake"

[ivan_wemple]

I was perusing some album reviews on the amazon.com site and stumbled across one for a Raven (Australia) Richard Harris release called, The Webb Sessions: 1968-1969. Anyway, one (customer) review for this album states:

"... I wanted to share with everyone the meaning of the imagery behind the lyric about "someone left a cake out in the rain". There is a Disney movie called "So Dear To My Heart", which was kind of a period-piece of the early 1900's, and was about a little boy and his pet, a black lamb who always gets into trouble. In the opening musical montage for this film, animated scenes are shown of old-timey things from that era, and a picnic scene is shown, with no people around, because it has started to rain. The cake that is set out with the picnic food has begun to melt in the rain, and it is kind of sad when you think about it, how long it took somebody to make that cake and now there it goes, all ruined, and that must have been what Jimmy Webb was thinking of in his subconscious mind at least, when he wrote that famous line in his masterpiece song, MacArthur's Park. So thanks for letting me share that bit of trivia with all of you, rent the movie if you must see it to believe it yourselves."

The source document can be found here (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000003IX5/qid=1120902511/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/103-5549231-8175862).

Cheers,
Ivan

[John B Good]

Thanks! That's one of the songs I remember well, but never knew the lyrics well enough to have a clue what it was about.

It would be nice if someone could post the lyrics here, or recommend any good compilation which might include either Richard Harris' or Donna Summers' version :)

[Andreas]

I have that CD, highly recommended.

As for the lyrics to Mac Arthur's Park....here is a little essay I found on the internet.


That song is "MacArthur Park," and to put it simply, it's a semi-autobiographical song based on a period in Jimmy Webb's life when he lost a great love of his life. At the time he lived near MacArthur Park in LA and he and his love used to go there together. But in the song, the hero is going back there alone after she has gone, thinking about where they went and what they did, replaying everything in his head and mourning the loss of the relationship, wondering if he'll ever love anyone as much or if this was love of his life. People tend to take the line "Someone left a cake out in the rain" a little too literally, it is just symbolic of something wonderful and sweet that has been destroyed because of neglect. The lyrics can be a little overly romantic and overwrought, but that just captures the way love and loss can be blown completely out of proportion by the person involved. Hope that helps.

[J.A.W.]

Great song! Waylon Jennings' second recording of the song is my favorite version; it can be found on his 1976 album Are You Ready for the Country, which was reissued in 2004 (BMG 59264; remastered by Vic Anesini)

[Drawer L]

You can get Richard Harris' version on the CD of A Tramp Shining,providing it's still in print.It's not on any US comps because his contract stated it couldn't be used.I do believe it's on a UK comp of Jimmy Webb songs.
By the way,alot of Jimmy Webb's Songs from this period (By The Time I Get To Phoenix/Worst That Could Happen/Where's The Playground,Suzie?) are all about the same girl...

[Andreas]

Jimmy Webb:
"MacArthur Park is 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 that is what I was trying to get at. I suppose the whole thing was that I wrote the song at a time in the late 1960s when surrealistic lyrics were the order of the day. It was written around about the same time as Strawberry Fields, so it probably seems a bigger deal now than it was back then."

[Linus]

Macarthur Park, (Richard Harris, NOT Donna Summer), is one of my all time favorite songs. As to the cake, I read an article once where Harris or Webb said it referred to a cake that was laced with hashish which got ruined before it could be eaten. If I can find the source for this I'll post it.

[bartels76]

Get the now OOP but cheap Donna Summer Anthology from 1994.

[Marty Milton]

I have the Tramp Shining CD. It has some other good Jimmy Webb songs. If you want to hear Jimmy's Webb's interpretation of this song, pick up his Ten Easy Pieces where he sings Macarthur Park and nine other of his classics. This is a must for all Jimmy Webb fans.

[Anders B]

It would be nice if someone could post the lyrics here, or recommend any good compilation which might include either Richard Harris' or Donna Summers' version :)

I actually think the best "MacArthur Park" version ever is the one with Glen Campbell. I think it's even better than Sinatra's version.

[MMM]

Some more info about the song:

http://www.superseventies.com/sw_macarthurpark.html


As for Donna's version, IMO the only one is the long ALBUM VERSION (not the 12" version) "MacArthur Park Suite" originally issued the Live and More album. The domestic CD issue of this album is missing this song. There is a Japanese CD issue of Live and More that has it, and the few times I've ever seen one for sale, it's usually not cheap. I got one for a little over $40 last year and it's just "excellent" condition (light scuffs) and is missing the OBI. There is a compilation called The Dance Collection that you should still be able to find pretty easily that has the long album version on it. Just OK sound on this song on there - needs some home "mastering" IMO to get it to sound better and come to life.

[W.B.]

I have the Tramp Shining CD. It has some other good Jimmy Webb songs. If you want to hear Jimmy's Webb's interpretation of this song, pick up his Ten Easy Pieces where he sings Macarthur Park and nine other of his classics. This is a must for all Jimmy Webb fans.
I have a copy of A Tramp Shining on CD myself . . . and "MacArthur Park" is on it. And a U.S. (MCA, R.I.P.) release at that.

(Somewhat off topic . . . "If You Must Leave My Life," from the same album, was covered later in 1968 by Al Martino on the Capitol label; I have two copies of the 45, one from L.A. and the other from Scranton.)

Oh, and for me, Mr. Harris' rendition of "MacArthur Park" is the most definitive. I can take or leave anyone else's, good or bad.

[Steel Woole]

Well that certainly explains why he'll "never have that recipe again!"

[Michael]

...The MCA CD was issued twice...remastered shortly after the initial release...

...my take on the "Cake", a song about WAR.

[Evan L]

One of the (unintentionally)hilarious lyrics ever written!


Evan

[Done A Ton]

My favorite version is "Richard Harris" doing it on SCTV.

[Jimbo]

Mmmmm....cake in the rain...mmmmm....

http://www.clubchopper.com/photopost/data/500/1038homer_drooling-thumb.gif

[anduandi]

There is also a nice version of "MacArthur Park" played by the underrated british prog-band "Beggars Opera". :agree:
It's on their third album "Pathfinder".
Great song ! Great cover version ! :righton:

Achim
:cheers:

[Charlie990]

I viewed the 2001 PBS concert special DVD featuring Glen Campbell and the Sioux City SD Symphony last night. This is a superb piece of work with awesome sound. All killer- no filler. This concert contains one of the best renditions of MacArthur Park I have ever heard or seen. Charlie

[Anders B]

I viewed the 2001 PBS concert special DVD featuring Glen Campbell and the Sioux City SD Symphony last night. This is a superb piece of work with awesome sound. All killer- no filler. This concert contains one of the best renditions of MacArthur Park I have ever heard or seen. Charlie

:righton: This was the version I was referring to earlier in the tread! I agree, an absolutely, fantastic unbeatable rendition!

[motownboy]

I don't know for sure, but possibly the idea for using the name "MacArthur Park" may have been insprired by the fact that there is a "MacArthur Park" near downtown Los Angeles.

Jimmy Webb - L.A......

Everytime I have driven by the park, I certainly think of that song....

[Raunchnroll]

MEANWHILE...back to the CAKE:

"...'cause it took so long to bake it...[a]nd I'll never have that recipe again...."

A pretty obvious metaphor for losing something ones invested a lot into, and which one will 'never have again.' A pretty apt description of the feelings one typically goes through after the breakup of a serious relationship - doncha think?

I remember catching that drift from this song even back when as a pre-teen, having crushes on girls go sour or never work out.

[Greatest Hits]

It's only more sad knowing that he'll never have that recipe again.

[Pope V]

It's only more sad knowing that he'll never have that recipe again. :agree:
indeed

[mrmaloof]

Maynard Ferguson's incomparable version on MF Horn is finally out on CD from Wounded Bird!

- Joe