"MacArthur Park" is a song written by American singer-songwriter

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", " By the Time I Get to Phoenix", " MacArthur Park", " Wichita Lineman", " Wo ...

that was recorded first by Irish actor and singer

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in '' This Sporting ...

in 1968. Harris's version peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number four on the UK Singles Chart. "MacArthur Park" was subsequently covered by numerous artists, including a 1969 Grammy-winning version by country music singer

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

and a number one ''Billboard'' Hot 100 disco arrangement by Donna Summer in 1978.Boucher, Geoff
"'MacArthur Park' Jimmy Webb , 1968"
''

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'', June 10, 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2015 In 1967, producer

Bones Howe Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe (born March 18, 1933) is an American record producer and recording engineer who scored a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, often of the sunshine pop genre, starting in 1965 with The Turtles cover of Bob Dylan's "It ...

had asked Webb to create a pop song with different movements and changing time signatures. Webb delivered "MacArthur Park" to Howe with "everything he wanted", but Howe did not care for the ambitious arrangement and unorthodox lyrics and the song was rejected by the group

The Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and "Along Comes Mary") and ...

, for whom it had been intended.

Jimmy Webb songwriting

Composition

"MacArthur Park" was written and composed by

in the summer and fall of 1967 as part of an intended cantata. Webb brought the entire cantata to

, but the group rejected it. The inspiration for the song was his relationship and breakup with Susie Horton.

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated City of Los Angeles H ...

, in Los Angeles, was where the couple would occasionally meet for lunch and spent their most enjoyable times together. At that time (the middle of 1965), Horton worked for

Aetna Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...

insurance, whose offices were across the street from the park. When asked by interviewer

Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of '' Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining N ...

what was going through his mind when he wrote the song's lyrics, Webb replied that it was meant to be symbolic and referred to the end of a love affair. In an interview with ''Newsday'' in October 2014, Webb explained: Webb and Horton remained friends, even after her marriage to another man. The breakup was also the primary influence for "

By the Time I Get to Phoenix "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally recorded by Johnny Rivers in 1965, it was covered by American country music singer Glen Campbell on his album of the same name. Released on Capitol Records in 1967, Camp ...

", another song written and composed by Webb. The idea to write and compose a classically structured song with several movements that could be played on the radio came from a challenge by music producer

, who produced recordings for

Richard Harris original version

Background and release

"MacArthur Park" was first recorded by

, after he met the composer at a

fundraiser Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

East Los Angeles, California East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

in late 1967. Webb had been invited to provide the musical backdrop at the piano. Out of the blue, Harris, who had just starred in the film ''

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

'' and had performed several musical numbers in it, suggested to Webb that he wanted to release a record. At first, Webb did not take Harris seriously, but later he received a telegram from Harris requesting that Webb "come to London and make a record". Webb flew to London and played Harris a number of songs for the project, but none seemed to fit Harris for his pop music debut. The last song that Webb played for Harris was "MacArthur Park". The track was recorded on December 21, 1967, at Armin Steiner's Sound Recorders in Hollywood. String, woodwind, and brass overdubs were recorded over two sessions on December 29 and 30. The musicians in the original studio recording included members of the Wrecking Crew of Los Angeles-based studio musicians who played on many of the hit records of the 1960s and 1970s. Personnel used included

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

on drums,

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & ...

on keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass guitar, and

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wrec ...

and

Mike Deasy Michael William Deasy (born February 4, 1941) is an American rock and jazz guitarist. As a session musician, he played on numerous hit singles and albums recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He is sometimes credited as Mike De ...

on guitars, along with Webb himself on harpsichord. The song was included on Harris's album ''

A Tramp Shining ''A Tramp Shining'' is the debut album of Richard Harris, released in 1968 by Dunhill Records. The album was written, arranged, and produced by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb. Although Harris sang several numbers on the soundtrack album to the fil ...

'' in 1968 and selected for release as a single, an unusual choice, given the song's length and complex structure. It was released in April 1968 and was played by 77 WABC on Tuesday April 9, 1968. It made its way onto the Hot 100 at number 79 on May 11, 1968, peaking at number 2 on June 22, 1968, behind

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ...

's "

This Guy's in Love with You "This Guy's in Love with You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and recorded by Herb Alpert. Although known primarily for his trumpet playing as the leader of the Tijuana Brass, Alpert sang lead vocals on this solo recording, ar ...

". It peaked at number 10 on ''Billboard's'' Easy Listening survey and was number 8 on WABC's overall 1968 chart. It topped the music charts in Europe and Australia and also won the 1969 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Donna Summer version

Background and release

In September 1978, American singer Donna Summer released a multi-million selling vinyl single disco version of "MacArthur Park". The song reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 the week of November 11, 1978, for 3 weeks, and earned Summer her first nomination for the

Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

. Summer was also nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Female at the American Music Awards where her album ''Live and More'' took the award for Favorite Disco Album. She became the first female artist of the modern era to have the number one single and album simultaneously on the ''Billboard'' pop charts (the week of November 11, 1978). Italian producer Giorgio Moroder would recall that he and his collaborator

Pete Bellotte Peter John Bellotte (born 28 August 1943)Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Index ...

had been interested in the concept of either remixing a track – as yet undecided on – which had been a hit in the 1960s or else remaking a 1960s hit as a dance track: Moroder – "I remember that I was driving in... on the Hollywood Freeway, and I heard the original song .e. "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harrison the radio. I thought: 'That's it – that's the song we've been looking for almost a year. Moroder asked

Neil Bogart Neil E. Bogart (born Neil Scott Bogatz, February 3, 1943 – May 8, 1982) was an American record executive. He was the founder of Casablanca Records, which later became Casablanca Record and Filmworks. Life and career Born Neil Scott Bogatz in t ...

, president of

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label current ...

, to provide him with a copy of the Richard Harris version of "MacArthur Park" to serve as the basis for Moroder's envisioned discofied reinvention: Bogart obliged with an

8-track tape The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, wh ...

containing Harris's version, prompting Moroder to buy an 8-track player in order to hear it. Moroder readily identified "MacArthur Park" as (quote) "a great song for Donna – with all those high notes, it was perfect

or her Or or OR may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * "O.R.", a 1974 episode of M*A*S*H * Or (My Treasure), a 2004 movie from Israel (''Or'' means "light" in Hebrew) Music * ''Or'' (album), a 2002 album by Golden Boy with Miss ...

.. First, I ocateda key that she could sing really high, but still with a big voice – that took an hour or two. I played a little piano and she sang it with my accompaniment. We found a key and we had Greg Mathieson do the arrangement – and then I did something very special" – that "something very special" being Moroder's recording of his own voice to form a choir heard behind Summer on the song's chorus: "I recorded about 20 seconds of all the notes, which I was able to sing on a 24-track. I made a loop of those notes, and put that loop in the olid State Logicdesk. I could form eight chords by having C-E-G right on the group. I played the chords by moving the track according to the chord that I needed." Of basing a discofied arrangement on the template for Webb's arrangement on the Harris version Moroder would recall: "To be honest, it was a very difficult song to rrange especially the brass, but we had the best musicians in town." Summer's recording of "MacArthur Park", included as part of the "MacArthur Park Suite" on her double album ''

Live and More ''Live and More'' is the first live album recorded by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer, and it was her second double album, released on August 28, 1978 by Casablanca Records. The live concert featured on the first three sides of this d ...

'', was eight minutes and forty seconds long. The shorter seven-inch vinyl single version – which omits the song's balladic second movement – afforded Summer her first #1 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also becoming the last of seven hit versions of compositions by Jimmy Webb to reach the Top Ten on the Hot 100, with "MacArthur Park" by Donna Summer being the only recording of a Webb composition to top the Hot 100. The nearly 18-minute

musical medley In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumentals. A medley which is a remixed series is ...

"MacArthur Park Suite" incorporated the original songs "One of a Kind" and " Heaven Knows", the latter being issued as the second single off ''Live and More''. This medley was also sold as a 12-inch (30 cm) vinyl recording, and it stayed at number one on '' Billboard''s Hot Dance Club Songs chart for five weeks in 1978. The versions of this medley in ''Live and More'' and in the 12-inch recording are notably different in the presentation of the two original songs. In the 12-inch version, "Heaven Knows" was extended to incorporate the instrumental string introduction and the bridge horn solo of the single version for radio stations, but left out the second verse, and "One of a Kind" was trimmed of a large part of the instrumental break but included the second verse. Lyrically, Summer's rendition is also curious, in that it adds the word "Chinese" to clarify what type of

checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

were being played. "MacArthur Park Suite" was not included on the

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

version of ''Live and More'' because of early CD limitations; however, the album version is available on 1987's '' The Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch Singles''. The 12" Special One-Sided Disco DJ Single has been digitally remastered and included on the '' Bad Girls'' digipak double CD release. In 2012, "Live and More" was remastered in Japan and included the original LP version of the "MacArthur Park Suite". In 2013, the song was remixed by

Laidback Luke Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen (born 22 October 1976), better known under his stage name Laidback Luke, is a Dutch DJ and music producer. He notably remixed the Robin S. song, " Show Me Love" which charted at No. 11 on the UK charts in 2009. He ...

for the Donna Summer remix album '' Love To Love You Donna'' (it was also remixed by Ralphi Rosario and Frank Lamboy), which was released to dance clubs all over America, having a successful peaking at No. 1, giving Summer her first posthumous No. 1 and her twentieth No. 1 overall. British electronic duo Pet Shop Boys used a sample of Summer's version in their 1999 song '' New York City Boy''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Other versions

A cover version of "MacArthur Park" was recorded by

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

on his 1969 album '' Country-Folk'', which included the family group the Kimberlys. This version charted at number 23 on Hot Country Songs and number 93 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...

, making its chart debut on August 23, 1969. It also won both acts the 1969

Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal The Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded from 1970 to 2011. The award has had several minor name changes: * In 1970 the award was known as Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group * From 1971 to 19 ...

. It was revisited in 1976 by Jennings, on his album '' Are You Ready for the Country''. In late 1969,

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...

's cover reached No. 39 on the US

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart and No. 40 Canadian Adult Contemporary. The Four Tops version (1971) reached number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 37 in Canada. The Andy Williams version (1972) debuted on the Easy Listening chart in early August and rose to number 26 over the course of five weeks. A cover version of "MacArthur Park" was recorded by Scottish

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band Beggars Opera on their 1972 album ''

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''. Their eight-minute version was panned by music critic Paul Stump who said that the band "over-eggs the already indigestible pudding" of the song. According to one database there are at least 191 versions of the song.

References

External links

Cite from Fred Bronson, ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits'', Billboard, 1988

{{authority control 1968 singles 1972 singles 1978 singles Songs written by Jimmy Webb Richard Harris songs Andy Williams songs Donna Summer songs Waylon Jennings songs Tony Bennett songs Glen Campbell songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Song recordings produced by Giorgio Moroder Song recordings produced by Pete Bellotte RCA Records singles Disco songs Pop ballads Rock ballads Songs about Los Angeles Torch songs Four Tops songs Song recordings produced by Frank Wilson (musician) 1968 songs 1960s ballads Dunhill Records singles Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) Casablanca Records singles Number-one singles in Australia RPM Top Singles number-one singles

Jimmy Webb songwriting

Composition

Richard Harris original version

Background and release

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Donna Summer version

Background and release

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Other versions

See also

References

External links