THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
119-Richard Harris-MacArthur Park.
1968-Number 4 single.
Best Bit-At 4.52.The odds were stacked against this one ever even seeing the light of day.At 7 minutes and.21 seconds it was far too long to be played on the radio,the lyrics appeared unfathomable,it was written in a Classical Music style and to top it all off was sung by an actor.
‘MacArthur Park’ was written by Jimmy Webb,(see also best songs 846) his inspiration for the song was his relationship and breakup with his girlfriend Susie Horton.MacArthur Park is in Los Angeles where the two would sometimes meet for lunch during 1965,Horton worked for a life insurance firm whose offices were located just across the street from the park.
Of the songs lyrics Webb has said,’It was meant to be symbolic and referred to the end of a love affair.Everything in the song was visible,there’s nothing in it that’s fabricated.The old men playing checkers by the tree,the cake that was left out in the rain.Back then I was kind of like an emotional machine,like whatever was going on inside me would bubble out of the piano and onto paper.’
The acclaimed Irish actor Richard Harris(1930-2002) had originally met Webb at a fundraiser in East Los Angeles,at first Webb didn’t take Harris seriously when he suggested that they make a record together,but they went onto release two critically acclaimed Albums,’A Tramp Shining’ and ‘The Yard Went On Forever.’
In 1978 a Disco version by Donna Summer,produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte went to Number 1 on Billboard for three weeks.
‘Someone left the cake out in the rain.’
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The countdown continues tomorrow at 1.0.pm.