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MacArthur Park Lyrics
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 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 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
[break]
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
Oh, no!
Oh, no
No, no
Oh no!!
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
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!
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
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!
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 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
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!!
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I think it is about a broken relationship. Baking the cake is a metaphor for building a relationship. Leaving the cake out in the rain is a metaphor for neglecting a relationship. Macarthur Park looks like it is melting in the dark as the author cries and day turns to night. Definitely metaphorical as I'm sure that Webb didn't indulge in mind-altering drugs.
Oh yeah, Macarthur Park is a park in LA. That park is now a very sleazy drug-infested place.
Isn't that ironic that the park is "tainted" now so to speak????Go to Richard Harris and look up this song...he wrote it and there is alot of info in the discussions....
No, crombiegirl00, Jimmy Webb wrote it, Richard Harris performed the original version. Personally I think the Jimmy Webb piano version from "Ten Easy Pieces" kicks arse over the original. Much darker and more moody.
So ... I'm the daughter of Carlos Montoya who wrote the original lyrics which were stolen by Richard Harris, courtesy of Jimmy Webb. Jimmy Webb introduced them back in the day. Since Richard Harris had passed and Webb took the final credit for the lyrics, my father took Jimmy Webb to court years ago and couldn't prove that he'd written the original lyrics even though Jimmy Webb was there with Richard when the song was played for him by my father. The song is about the terrible long drawn out breakup of CM's marriage to his wife in the early 60's due to infidelity on his part. He and Webb spent a lot of time camping and hanging in Macarthur Park in the mid to late 60's talking about his experiences with his then ex-wife at the same park. It haunted him throughout the rest of his life, which ended in 2008. It’s only one part of a larger poem, Thought I'd set the record straight.
All I know is this in my most UNfavorite song, EVER!