MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake neighbourhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur.
The song was written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb—when he was 21 years old!—and first recorded by Irish actor and singer Richard Harris in late 1967.
Richard Harris insisted on singing the lyric as “MacArthur‘s Park.”
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
Oh no!
Richard Harris (1930–2002)
