MacArthur Park Lyrics
It ran one step ahead
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 chinese 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!
Yikes, can we get these lyrics deleted and the right ones put up?
Having said that, I actually like Donna's version better than Richard Harris's. Nothing personal Rich, but Donna does have a better voice and her version cuts out most of the stuff that makes the original so boring. Plus you can dance to her version! Sue me, but I still like disco, so I'm voting for Donna.
koosgirl I totally agree with you...
koosgirl I totally agree with you...
I agree with both of you. Donna rocks.
I agree with both of you. Donna rocks.
I came across this song only the other day. While I didn't take in the words of the verses, I quickly interpreted the cake as a metaphor for a broken relationship. They'd been together for a long time and worked hard on it ("took so long to bake it"). But now she is heartbroken, and feels she will never be able to love someone in quite the same way ("never have that recipe again").
Not sure of the lyrics but I would love to know what this songs meaning was....
This song is about Spring ending too soon, and along with it, a Spring romance with sweet memories in MacArthur park (which is in Los Angeles, apprently). (Perhaps the relationship hasn't ended, but just this happy nostaglic period.) It's about the sadness of never being able to go back and recreate your happy momments and memories, how they're never the same.
The cake is a metaphor...I like Donna's version.
the time has come for you to lip sync for your life
Hi everyone, gee i LOVE LOVE LOVE this song. I have known for most of my life the DONNA SUMMER version which is amazing due to Donna's beautiful voice and the disco sound. But please also check out the Richard Harris version which came first. It is so genuine and multi-layered, with 4 parts which are all very contrasting.
The Green cake metaphor also intrigued me so i looked it up. Jimmy Webb wrote this song about the end of a relationship in 1965. He used to meet this woman in Macarthur park in LA at that time. They had these big birthday parties there when he would spend time with his lover. He said he was re-enacting those times when he wrote the lyrics. The cake could been seen as a metaphor for the creation of the relationship and so after the end, the cake was wasted. The rain is the emotions of sadness after it ended. But you see the cake is also a literal memory from the relationship before it ended. Jimmy put all the real stuff into the lyrics :) the best ingredients to any cake, sorry, song lol
love love love it
I believe this song is about investing time into something, the unique qualities (or the recipe) that made the cake being the metaphor for the ultimate.
I have a friend who thinks this song is about making a child. The cake being the child.
Awww..the baby is so sweet. :)
Awww..the baby is so sweet. :)
@hejira I think it's a bad metaphor. "I'll never have that recipe again" is NOT something that happens with recipes!! In the era in which the song was written and recorded (each recording), you only have the recipe to use in the first place because it's written down. If you clipped it from a magazine or something, you did that BEFORE you used it. So why the fudge wouldn't you still have that recipe? It's a lyric obviously written by someone who has probably never seen, certainly never used, a recipe.
@hejira I think it's a bad metaphor. "I'll never have that recipe again" is NOT something that happens with recipes!! In the era in which the song was written and recorded (each recording), you only have the recipe to use in the first place because it's written down. If you clipped it from a magazine or something, you did that BEFORE you used it. So why the fudge wouldn't you still have that recipe? It's a lyric obviously written by someone who has probably never seen, certainly never used, a recipe.
Jimmy Webb wrote this about a breakup he had and while he remained friends with his ex, the breakup happend in Macarthur Park as he worked close by. He said he even recalls seeing the man playing Chinese checkers, the cake someone left, etc.
Very cut and dry this one.
So ... I'm the daughter of Carlos Montoya who wrote the original lyrics and melody which were stolen and abbreviated by Richard Harris. 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. Thought I'd set the record straight.
[Edit: Added name and revised fact]