Readers' 20 Worst Lyrics Ever: No. 7
"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!"
--Richard Harris' 'MacArthur Park'
(lyrics by Jimmy Webb)
Who in the hell leaves the cake out in the rain? --Sharon Clower, Normal, Ill.
Posted by Spinner Readers
Filed under: The Hit List
Reader Comments(1 of 12)
Stewartat 4-05-2007
Seriously...is this a children's song?
Kaylaat 4-06-2007
The world is seriously going to f-ing end. You have no cake recipe... try coming up with a better recipe for song lyrics next time.
Bob Aat 4-07-2007
I guess none of the idiots who voted for this song have any clue about descriptive prose. The lyric, although admittedly a little esoteric, recounts a sad memory of his one great love, now lost. It sad to see that people are now sooo simple minded. These are people that think the same thing about lines like "A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet". I feel sorry for them.
yaffurat 8-24-2008
Aww... does someone need some love? No, this song is stupid. I think "a rose by any other name" is one of the greatest lines ever written, romantically. And the whole blather about the cake is completely ridiculous. How sad that the Richard Harris of "This Sporting Life" could put up with singing something so banal. Nice word choice, though, Bob, with "esoteric."
katherineat 9-23-2008
i agree with you. its a song about losing someone special.
DixonSteele1on1at 1-04-2009
'course I never cared for any of Richard Harris' singing(?) but the best version by far is from Donna Summer; and yet too the lyrics do have a sort of Jack Kerouac vibe/feel to them as well...
http://lyricwiki.org/Donna_Summer:MacArthur_Park
http://www.answers.com/topic/jack-kerouac#Wikipedia
Lucyat 4-07-2007
Bob, seriously, get a damn life!
patat 4-07-2007
Well, I gotta say equating lost love with a cake that got left out in the rain is a bit of a reach. There are many things that might get left out in the rain- a scarf, a baseball glove, a towel, a book, a radio - but I've never heard about a sodden cake. I think Richard Harris could've come up with much better metaphors for unrequited love. It's almost as if someone like Beck wrote this song for him, imparting some sort of slacker psychedelia to this man's epic angst.
Danat 4-07-2007
You all don't get it! It's about the bomb! MacArthur Park is melting in the rain (the rain of nuclear "rain" and melting from the heat). The sweet green icing flowing down (all of the plants are dying). The cake is a metaphor that says "things are all gone and can't ever come again" due to nuclear contamination (For I'll never have that recipe again).
pregueletto butromonobabbittat 4-07-2007
Seriously, how old is Stewart?
C Waltonat 4-07-2007
This is truly one of the weirdest songs of all time, and it was a huge hit.
Cozmoat 4-08-2007
I'm saddened by his loss. The same thing happened to me but the day was sunny & I lost my ice cream cake. I've never been quite the same.
DAS SALLat 4-08-2007
THIS is the WORST . . . EVER!!!!!!!!!!
Moodyat 4-10-2007
Bob A. - like I said before, take your Zoloft.
Dan - yeah, and if you anagram MacArthur Park, you get:
MR. H., U R A PACKRAT!
Obviously confirming the rumours we all heard that
Mr. HARRIS kept the whole g d wet cake to himself
(sweet green icing not withstanding), contrary to the words in the song "I don't think that I can take it" - when in fact, he *did* think that he could take it, and did so - much to the chagrin of all those hard working souls who wanted just a bit of tea and cake after the song was completed.
Yes, unraveling the mysteries of MacArthur
Park's profound lyrics makes trying to figure out
all that nonsense in "American Pie" look like a walk in the ....
Franklyat 4-10-2007
Actually, Jimmy Webb wrote the song. He was a rising songwriter who just happened to break up with the love of his life, Susan, prior to this song. He was just around 20-21 years old at the time. McArthur Park was frequented by them on lazy afternoons. Yes, in those days, you could still go to parks with a blanket. Ahh, young love. The "hated" lines are just the chorus. Read the rest of the lyrics and try to put in context.
For some reason, the younger generation prefers the gangsta rap lyrics, or the lady bump/hump (deep), and, as Bob A pointed out, would/could not understand the "Rose by any other name .." line.
I did considerable research after this song showed up on this list, though I always loved the song and understood the writers pain. Very eloquent!
Feel sorry for the shallow who have no clue.
Jillat 4-10-2007
Thank you Bob and Dan. This song contains the most visually beautiful and interpretivly flexible metaphors of the decade, if not the century. Those of you who lack imagination should maybe begin with the poem "Jabberwocky."
Asiaat 4-12-2007
If you didn't have the recipe to the cake how the hell did you make it the first time and how the hell did it end up in the damn rain!!!!
Nicole DDat 4-17-2007
Well, the thing to understand here is not so much that he had the recipe the first time. Rather, think of the times when you found yourself in a relationship that you thought you really had perfected. Everything seemed to be in the right proportions. In other words everything "clicked" and just like that it's over, you feel like you're literally "left out in the rain". You start to question yourself on whether or not you'll be able to have those dynamics with anyone else thereafter. In this song however, he believes he'll never have that type of chemistry with anyone else. It took him so long to develop what he had with that other individual. The "recipe" is the dynamics of the relationship, the "cake" is the relationship that someone let run aground. Remember, a good relationship takes time to develop (or bake)and unless you're writing down everything you do to make it work, you'll not have that recipe again lol.
Franklyat 4-18-2007
Excellent understanding, Nicole.
louise magillat 4-19-2007
I was hoping someone would mention this absolute bag-of-shite song,Bob, we understand what the 'cake' is supposed to represent,we get it....and it's BOBBINS!(interpretation=not very good)