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MacArthur Park

ComposerJimmy Webb
LyricistJimmy Webb
Year Written1967

About This Song

“MacArthur Park” was written by Jimmy Webb in 1967. The first recording was made by Richard Harris and was well-received, landing at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Webb won a Grammy Award for his arrangement.

View the lyrics

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 in 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!

Recordings

1969

Tony Bennett recorded “MacArthur Park” on October 8, 1969. Peter Matz wrote the arrangement and conducted the orchestra.

CO 103423

Release History

1969Columbia 45: 4-45032
1969Columbia LP 12″: CS 9980 — Tony Sings The Great Hits Of Today
1973Harmony LP 12″: KH 32171 — Tony!
2011Columbia: The Complete Collection — Disc 39 — Tony Sings The Great Hits Of Today

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