OK I have always liked this song (MacArthur Park)but never really paid attention to the lyrics before.

SO today listening on Pandora at the office I hit the lyrics button and began to wonder if I had one to many to drink at lunch before I remembered that I am now a teetotaller.

So what is the meanng or was Jimmy Webb drunk or high when he wrote the 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'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

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

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
Oh, 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

I always liked the song but even back in the day I remember thinking "what the hell am I singing about" as the tune played on the radio.

I found this article on "song facts"

With the famous "cake out in the rain," this is one of the more lyrically-intriguing song ever recorded. Jimmy Webb, who wrote the song, explained in Q magazine: "It's clearly about a love affair ending, and the person singing it is using the cake and the rain as a metaphor for that. OK, it may be far out there, and a bit incomprehensible, but I wrote the song at a time in the late 1960s when surrealistic lyrics were the order of the day."

Yep...he was high!

I "guess" cake out in the rain "could" refer to the relationship, leaving it out in the rain and it fizzled out. But, it's sort of a roundabout way of getting to the point. LOL

TIS




http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1875

Yep TIS, that's it. Imagine a cake in the rain and the icing sliding down and off it slowly eroding it and eventually all of it. Of course, some relationships take quite a while to bake and you have applied your best baking skills just to see it all dissolve.

Of course, "someone" left it out in the rain. Who gets the blame here?

Never liked the song, but the music was captivating. Somewhat like "Whiter Shade of Pale", but I liked that one. I liken it to "Jabberwocky". Colorful words (lyrics), but I had to work to hard to make sense of it. Someone left my steak out on the grill, I don't think that I could chew it, my teeth just couldn't do it, and I'll never have that steak sauce again.....oh nooooooooooooo. [/i]

MC,

I too loved Whiter Shade of Pale and even today turn up the radio when it's played (It was also on the Big Chill soundtrack). I know most of the lyrics but again.....Somebody be trippin hard. LOL (really though, one of my favorite songs).


Then yet again, I'm sure every generation has it's meaningless yet great songs right???

We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
And the waiter brought a tray


TIS

Can you say LSD?

Oli,

What about In A Gadda Da Vida? When that song came out, I loved it and it was a huge hit. Supposedly the were implying/saying "In The Garden Of Eden" but that was the main theme of the song I guess.

I remember I talking my dad (God bless him) into sitting down and listening to the entire song. I think it was like a 10 minute song too. I told him, "Dad, this is a classic" you gotta hear it. LOL He patiently listened but I'm sure he didn't see it as I did. I mean we're talking about a guy who loved Mario Lanza, Dean Martin & Jerry Vale.

TIS

Speaking of parents. Did you ever get into an argument with your parents over "today's" songs? I did on several occasions with my dad. He thought they were all trash - jungle music. And then when it was said that the Beatles were greater than God. Madonne! I started avoiding any music discusions with him.

Also, there are so many stories about how that title came about. It does sound though like someone got intoxicated and slurred the words.