Mac Arthur Park - please explain deeper meaning.

Hunkey Dorey

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Dec 18, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/18/97

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Dear Lyrics Gurus....

So, this question has been floating around my brain for several years
now. First I had to find the lyrics to Mac Arthur Park, but with
todays search engines this is very easy. So, I now know what exactly
Donna is singing. Now my question remains:

What does it all mean? Is there a deeper meaning to all this? Surely
there must be!!

Please help me out, I dont think I can stand ANOTHER christmas without
knowing the meaning of these words.....

Thank you, Maarten
Here's the lyrics if you dont know them by heart:

( i took em from
http://www.summer.com.br/~pfilho/oldies_list/ron_transc/m/macarthur_park..txt

MacArthur Park

Artist: Richard Harris (peak Billboard position # 2 in 1968)
Words and Music by Jimmy Webb
Disco version by Donna Summer charted at # 1 in 1978
MacArthur Park is located on the west side of Wilshire Boulevard
between
downtown LA and Santa Monica.

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, 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

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 be thinking of you
And wondering why.

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!! (upon which Harris suffers an irreversible gender change)

Transcribed by Ronald E. Hontz
ronh...@worldnet.att.net with help from his buddy, Paulo

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* http://www.xs4all.nl/~tsaar *
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starcro1

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Dec 18, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/18/97

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Film Critic oger Ebert was once asked what a particular movie's symbolism
meant.
Ebert replied, "To you? Evidently, nothing."

MacArthur Park is a place in downtown Los Angeles that is generally far too
crowded and wide open for lovers to do their thing with any sense of
privacy. The song always struck me as a repentance for lost love, filtered
through some heavy drugs.

Hunkey Dorey <Hu...@dorey.com> wrote in article <GtUy$l0uAc+q@ns2>...

defi

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Dec 18, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/18/97

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Before Anyone Wants to Jump Up in the Air--"....I just remember Hearing
Comments.."

But!-- The Story goes that this Song is Named Directly after-"The Real
Mac Arthur Park"
(San Fransisco--I THINK!-perhaps I'm wrong)

But is there really "Any Doubt"..?--That it's about that "ONE WOMAN
DREAM" that
"Completely & Utterly Broke a Man's Heart So Badly that He Knows He'll
never Get Over Her.."
But instead of "Calling It A Day"...... . ......."...He Decides He Must
*Choose Life*.... .and Endure.. .". .

I Should Like to ask Richard Harris this Question though!
For this is truly a "MASTERPIECE" because of-"RICHARD"!

H.H.,

DEFI
de...@execpc.com

"God Bless You Richard!!... ."

***********************************

Hunkey Dorey

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Dec 19, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/19/97

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Hey Lyrics Gurus,

Thanks very much, I have some clues now. After I posted my question, I
decided to dig a little deeper (my newsserver is crappy, so I never
know if there are answers or if the article got there)

This is what I came up with:

(cut from various posts, without including the authors , sorry
guys/girls)
.....................
Jimmy Webb said that after some girl dumped him, he was sitting in
MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, California, crying. He said that the
park looked just like a cake melting through his tears. He felt he
had put so much into the relationship (it took so long to bake it),
that he may not recover from the loss (he'll never have that recipe
again).
.......................
I always took it as the guy was stood up at the wedding. Wedding cake
was
melting from the rain." I'll never have that recipe again."....I'll
never
love again.

The Irish film actor Richard Harris sang the original recording of
"MacArthur Park." in 1968. Another successful recording of the song
was
a disco version recorded by Donna Summer in the seventies.

The songwriter was Jim Webb, who wrote a _lot_ of songs about a
specific failed romance apparently around his high school and college
years. I don't know that the details were given (he probably figured
that's what the songs would relate :), but if you pull up biagraphical
material and interviews on him you should find some clues. The central
issue seems to be that his beloved married someone else, which would
correspond with the interpretation given above.

Incidentally, "MacArthur Park" was originally written as part of
Richard Harris's _A Tramp Shining_ album, which was in turn part of
what might be thought of as a three-album trilogy of songs: _The Magic
Garden_ (recorded by The Fifth Dimension; I think it might also be
found under the title _The Worst That Could Happen_ from the title of
one of the songs popularized by The Brooklyn Bridge) seems to be the
story (in his eyes?), _A Tramp Shining_ is the romantic perspective,
and _The Yard Went On Forever_ (also recorded by Richard Harris) seems
to be the vindictive perception (if I recall correctly, one song
seemed to relate the wedding being interrupted by a nuclear
explosion). Finding all three albums is left as a challenge.

Webb's other works include a series of songs for Glen Campbell ("By
the Time I get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Where's the
Playground, Susie?") and many others (like "All I Know" on Art
Garfunkel's _Angel Clare_) that seem to refer to the same chain of
events or at least to unrequited love (admittedly not an unpopular
lyrical theme :). (If you decide you like the above, also look for
Thelma Houston's album _Sunshower_.)

The mileage on the above may have varied my perception; it's from
memory. I pretty much lived on Webb's stuff years ago, if you couldn't
tell. But I'm feeling better now. (I guess the above is a residual
cleansing. :)

=== Dennis Doms dd...@gvi.net http://home.gvi.net/~ddoms ===
"I used to regard life as a rehersal for later times. I've
reached the age where I realize I'm down to the performance

lanza

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Dec 19, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/19/97

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Regarding Webb's work, he has written one of the few "torch" Xmas songs,
called "Whatever Happened to Xmas" (on The Sinatra Christmas Album).

Whatever happened to Xmas?
It's gone and left no traces.
Whatever happened to the faces
All aglow?

Whatever happened to Xmas?
To the Xmas way of living?
Whatever happened to the giving -
The magic in the snow?

Remember the sights and the smells and the sounds.
And remember the cheery call;
Remember when love was all around,
Whatever happened to it all?

Whatever happened to Xmas?
The bells in the streets are ringing,
Whatever happened to the singing
Of songs we used to know?

Whatever happened to Xmas
And when it disappeared from view
Where was I?
And whatever happened to you?

Except for the "surprise" hook (Xmas has disappeared because the
singer's lover has disappeared), I don't find this a particularly
representative sample of good songwriting. Either the words are too
abstract ("the sights and the smells and the sounds"; cherry call),
poorly chosen in terms of diction ("smells"), or, when concrete, banal
or commonplace (singing; ringing).
--

********************************************
"Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand."
--LUCAS JACKSON
********************************************

TellerChick

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Dec 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/20/97

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all these things about lovers may be true...
but that still doesn't answer the lyrics about the cake

i mean, what the hell is the significance of the cake?
and leaving it out in the rain?

thanks for the help,

TellerChick

"Do you BELIEVE in the power of Teller?"

GrapeApe

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Dec 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/20/97

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Love is a cake of many layers that is as easily destroyed as enjoyed.