*** Today in rock music history 11 May ***
1968: 50 years ago today Richard Harris released "MacArthur Park", a curiously-imaged song penned by Jimmy Webb, about a cake left out in the rain.
- The song was originally offered to The Association, but rejected due to its length.
- While the song only reached #2 for Harris on the US charts, Donna Summer's version would bring it to #1 ten years later.
- Webb claimed the song was merely a metaphor for his breakup with a girlfriend he'd meet with often for lunch in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park. But a business associate of Webb's indicated there was probably a more direct meaning to the song. According to Colin McCourt (The Daily Mail, April 2, 2011), months after their breakup, Webb secreted into a utility shed at MacArthur Park in order to espy on his ex-girlfriend's open-air wedding ceremony. A sudden rainstorm soon provided Webb all the imagery he needed of an abandoned wedding cake in all its soggy glory.