The Macarthur Park Cake: Pre-Meltdown Visions

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. Ohhh noooo.


You know you've all imagined it, and grimaced accordingly. You felt the pain, as we all did. A cake is a terrible thing to waste. Perhaps in your mind's eye you saw your younger brother in a foolish, foolish jest set the cake out on your back porch, ignorant of the real damage he was doing. Perhaps you envisioned a scribbled post-it ablaze on the menacing stovetop.

The question, ladies and gentlemen of the forum, is: What kind of cake met its terrible fate in downtown L.A.? And what circumstances surrounded its creation? For the time being, we will set aside the mysteries of how Richard Harris so stirringly evokes the baker's valiant struggle.

The incontrovertible facts are thus:

1) There was icing
2) The icing was green
3) The icing was sweet
4) The icing was water-soluble
5) The cake was time-consuming to "bake"
6) Acquisition of ingredients, Icing preparation, Assembly time, preheating of oven, and clean-up not specified in time estimate
7) Access to the recipe has been denied via unknown circumstances
8) The event has inflicted great psychological distress

From the evidence compiled above, many conclusions can be drawn. And none can be deemed too baroque for downtown L.A. We cannot necessarily attribute this incident to the effects of "mind expanding" drugs and the ensuing munchie-derived dementia. Regarding time consumption both the level of eleboration in the recipe and the skill and experience of the baker must be accounted for. Thus, we musn't assume the dessert to be a complicated one by usual standards.

As to my own research, the possibility of the Swedish Bakery's famed green marzipan topped "princess cake" fitting the bill ought be rulled out. Even if we were, in the first place, to allow marzipan (or it's flowery adornments) to fall under the heading of "icing", the results of my year-long experiment are conclusive: there is no "pea" in a princess cake- Our one year frozen cake bore the effects of cryogenic freezing far better than Austin Powers. I feel strongly that a mere rainfall could not so easily conjure its demise.

But beyond this, I have no leads. And so I turn to you, dear reader.

The mystery of this song lurks in cookbooks and our imaginations- only you can solve it.

Hi,

There is a chance you are over analyzing this. Many a high school teacher has wrecked a story by identifying symbolism the author never intended.

As there are forums for just about everything under the sun:

forums wrote:I always wondered what the song was about then someone told me a while ago that he read that the song was to do with a lost relationship.
The cake left in the rain meaning neglecting the loved one.

Taking so long to bake it meaning working so hard to build up the realtionship to begin with.

Never finding that receipe again meaning they'll never find someone like that again.

Another forum wrote:Actually, Donna Summer's version is a cover of the original sung by Richard Harris. ?(Yes, that Richard Harris of Professor Dumbledore fame.) ?From what I've read and heard about the song over the years, the lyrics don't really mean anything. ?The song was meant to be a private joke between Harris and Jimmy Webb. ?There was some sort of weird wager between the two that Jimmy could write the worst song of all time and Harris would record it. ?Then they woud see if it was a hit.

Back in 1969, it went to #2. ?Today, it has been voted as being one of the worst songs of all time.

I guess the fact that the lyrics didn't really mean anything at all is why it became so popular. ?Interpretation of the words is still wide open today.

I thought this was pretty funny:

Washington Post wrote:College Park, Md.: FYI -
Carrie Underwood does not belong in the same sentence as Anthony Fedorov and Scott Savol.

Lisa de Moraes: Carrie has the voice, but no stage presence, bland personality and no understanding of what she's singing, as she herself said re MacArthur Park.She couldn't even be bothered to ask one of the vocal coaches to give her some insight into McAP so that she would know what the heck she was singing....

If you find the answer, it could be profitable:

Amazon.com wrote:Me da used to play this over and over again on the eight track whilst singing along, its a wonder I am not "deef" from the cacophony but here I sit today to tell you you have to buy this CD and when you figure out the meaning of the lyrics please email me and I will give you a pound sterling! Why the officer was bothering innocent street drunks and not out looking for the criminal who left the cake out in the rain? I don't think that I can take it cause it...just don't make sense. Buy the CD they dont make them like this anymore, better on vinyl and best on eight track if you can find such a rare gem.

Years ago Richard Harris sang MacArthur's Park on Saturday Night Live. If I recall correctly, Lorraine Newman and Gilda Radner were the back up singers who would go-go dance during the musical interludes. I think it was the only time I ever saw him sing the complete song.

Richard Harris web biography wrote:The late Sixties saw Harris hit unimagined heights. Camelot was an Arthurian musical popularised onstage by Richard Burton. Harris stepped into the lead role onscreen and enjoyed a huge hit. More importantly perhaps, the movie revealed him to be a singer of great feeling and, confidence raised, he stepped into the world of music. Harris had become friends with the songwriter Jimmy Webb, who'd recently scored hits with Glen Campbell's By The Time I Get to Phoenix (Webb would later provide Campbell with both Wichita Lineman and Galveston), and The Fifth Dimension's Up, Up And Away (Harris's second connection to balloons, trivia hounds). Over the next year, Webb would write and produce two albums for Harris, A Tramp Shining and The Yard Went On Forever, the first including the surreal epic Macarthur Park, later covered by Donna Summer, which went to Number 2 in America and sold millions. Harris released a string of singles from these two LPs, plus tracks from Camelot and, throughout 1968, enjoyed radio coverage that matched The Beatles'. For a while, he was the biggest actor/musician of all time, surpassing even the achievements of Frank Sinatra. Ever generous, he presented Webb with a Rolls Royce.

Have fun!

My grace appreciates your thoughtful research on the topic. Indeed, the "what the hell?" factor was one worth investigating, and I thank you for your many pains. Indeed, Hercules coud not have laboured as successfully in his twelve tasks as you, in yours.

The question as to what kind of cake you imagined when you heard the song is still of utmost concern to me. I was triggered into this froth of questioning when a particularly apropos cake entered the grounds via the parcels of The Pastry Shop Hippo. A certain chambermaid bestowed upon me a green tea mousse cake adorned with what appeared to be green mold spores, but to my (and the servant's neck's) relief, it was only green tea sprinkles on the white icing. Thus the refrain was ignited in my soul of souls, my heart of hearts soon following in response.

And, though the sprinkles were indeed green, the icing was still a pallid white. Thus this cake was removed from The Royal Macarthur Tournament the instant hundreds of other contestants entered.

Will you continue the joust, pray?

oy veh

this lyric inquisition is soooooo passe'

No one expects the lyric inquisition!

ba-dum-dum-tish!

food related:

try the veal!