macarthurs park

[alfjozaclola]

on "x factor" on saturday. Rowetta sang Donna Summer's "macarthurs park" she commented that now she knows what the song is about she loves it. but couldn't say what it was about on national tv as it is very rude!!! I am now dying to know what it is all about. She whispered the answer to Kate Thornton and it appeared to be one word that my husband said sounded like it began with an "S" you can imagine we spent the next hour guessing what it could possibly be. Help!!!

[Greedyfly]

Supposedly it is about drugs - but I have never heard it so I couldnt tell you for sure.  When I saw that bit on tv (was channel hopping) I thought she said porn!

[Octavius]

Didn't watch it (thankfully) this site tries to explain, but I'm jiggered if I can make head nor tail of it..

 

http://dav4is.8m.com/Music/macarthur.html

 

[mcguid]

That webpage says this about the song:

"And then there's "MacArthur Park," made famous�or infamous�by Harris in 1968. The song has been ridiculed as classic '60s excess because of the overblown orchestra of the original version and the song's strange lyric--that troublesome metaphor of the cake in the rain, etc. Columnist Dave Barry named it the worst song in history, or something like that, a few years ago.
But Barry and other detractors are just plain wrong. This is the inner cry of a young Okie kid lost in Los Angeles with a heart full of sorrows and a head full of acid. He has been crushed by love, but he vows to rise again, though he knows his loss always will cause him pain."

That's about the only sense I got out of it.

[Jenny Tools]

The womans is as mad as a mad thing. MacArthers Park was written by the brillant Jimmy Webb and is about failing relationship. 

[mcmikeymike]

I thought that it was obvious

 

"Someone left the cake out in the rain

 

I don't think that I can take it

 

Cos it took so long to bake it

 

And I'll never have that recipe again".

 

I think it is almost self explanatory.  The cake is the relationship, the rain is whatever happened to end the relationship.  Maybe the cake being left out in the rain may be neglecting the relationship.  He is inconsolably devastated by the break up and doesn't think he will ever know how to start and build a strong relationship again.

 

It has been one of my favourite songs for years, Jimmy Webb wrote some great songs.  Many of his classics were writen for the 5th Dimension, and a great album of theirs is "The Magic Garden".  The whole album tells a similer story, finding love, building a relationship, then losing it again.  McArthur Park would have fitted in very well with this album.

 

In real life, Jimmy Webb was really devastated by the break up of a relationship.  This gives the songs he wrote at the time the edge.  He was writing about how he really was feeling at the time.

 

Let's face it, we have ALL been there once or twice.

[romko]

The B side- "Didn't we" is almost like a simpler version of macarthur park; totally different musically and lyrically, without the acrobatic orchestrations and surrealism, but the overall message is the same: end of a relationship where they could have "had it all".

Incidentally, I think that B side has been done better by others (in terms of performance and arrangement). 

[Hyphen]

I think it's about a bun in the oven!!

[Octavius]

So the 'S' bit was 'Self-raising flour' then?

[King_Elvis]

It sounded as if Rowetta said a specific word - and it's the only thing I can think of that would have got the reaction from both Kate thornoton and Simon Cowell that it did - and that is ***** !!!!

Listen again - I think you'll agree !!

[King_Elvis]

It sounded as if she said ***** - which would make sense of the reactions she got from Kate Thornton and Simon Cowell. Listen to the clip again  - I think you'll agree.

 

[llanelliboy]

can someone post an answer that wont get asterixed.

try doing it like this

can

umbrellas

not

trampoline

 

see?