Leaving the Cake out in the Rain...
...a lyrical look back at a 40-year-old song...

This post features the lyrics to an old song I've been listening to a lot lately. To my knowledge, it's the longest song ever to make the Top-40. "MacArthur Park" by the actor, Richard Harris. Seven minutes, 20 seconds long. And, a lot of people made fun of it, because of the lyrical line, "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 no matter how much I tried to explain the song to him, well, he kept his point of view. Since then, I've heard others make fun of the song, too. But you've gotta take all of this in CONTEXT. And the only way to do that, is to have ALL of the lyrics right in front of you. Here they are:

(First, the imagery of a dreamy, sunny day, or perhaps a fantasy thereof...we are introduced to a picture perfect, idyllic setting...)

Spring was never waiting for us girl,
It ran one step ahead as we followed in a dance...
Between the parted pages and were pressed,
In love's hot fevered iron on a striped pair of pants...

(and here's the part of the song that's usually singled out...the chorus:)

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, 'cos it took so long to bake it,
And I'll never have that recipe again...oh no...

(then, the song takes us back to that glorious, idyllic afternoon...)

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...

(once again, the chorus:)

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, 'cos it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again...oh no...

(Hopefully all of this makes sense now: the 'cake' being symbolic of a goal achieved, then losing sight of that goal, and the fear of never being able to re-attain that goal, that objective...maybe a fear of aging, or losing one's way...)

And now, part two of the song: The music becomes quietly hushed; the tempo slows, as the song assumes an introspective tone...and the singer proceeds...

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, oh, 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 let passion flow like rivers to 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...

The lyrics in the above portion of the song are some of the most beautiful, wistful, and ultimately sad, lyrics I've ever come across. I've been impressed with this song, ever since I first heard it in 1967, when I was all of 13. And in-between those words and the final chorus comes a couple of minutes of whirling, dizzying, majestic instrumental music...and the final chorus comes in, and the record ends. And sometimes I just sit there looking at the turntable and think, "wow". And I usually end up playing it again. And again.

The song was written by Jim Webb, who also wrote such tunes as "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", "Up-Up and Away", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", and the 1974 song by Art Garfunkel, "All I Know". And even tho I like to rock...these Jim Webb songs are, in a word, 'otherworldly'. So why did I post this? I wanted to share.
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By the way, "MacArthur Park" (since re-named) is a REAL place, located within the Los Angeles city limits somewhere, or so I was told. Finally, the post immediately below was written immediately before this one. You'll see the "MacArthur Park connection" there. After writing that...I had to write this. So there ya go.