"MacArthur Park" | ||||
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Single by Richard Harris | ||||
from the album A Tramp Shining | ||||
B-side | "Didn't We?" | |||
Released | April 1968 | |||
Recorded | December 21, 1967 | |||
Studio | Sound Recorders, Hollywood | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 7:21 | |||
Label | Dunhill | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jimmy Webb | |||
Producer(s) | Jimmy Webb | |||
Richard Harris singles chronology | ||||
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"MacArthur Park" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb that was recorded first in 1967 by Irish actor and singer Richard Harris. Harris's version peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number four on the UK Singles Chart. "MacArthur Park" was subsequently covered by numerous artists, including a 1970 Grammy-winning version by country singer Waylon Jennings and a number one Billboard Hot 100 disco version by Donna Summer in 1978. [1] Webb won the 1969 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the Harris version. [2]
"MacArthur Park" was written and composed by Jimmy Webb in the summer and fall of 1967 as part of a cantata. Webb brought the entire cantata to The Association, but the group rejected it. [3] The inspiration for the song was his relationship and breakup with Susie Horton. [4] MacArthur Park, in Los Angeles, was where the couple would occasionally meet for lunch and spent their most enjoyable times together. [5] At that time (the middle of 1965), Horton worked for Aetna insurance, whose offices were across the street from the park. [1] When asked by interviewer Terry Gross what was going through his mind when he wrote the song's lyrics, Webb replied that it was meant to be symbolic and referred to the end of a love affair. [6] In an interview with Newsday in October 2014, Webb explained:
Everything in the song was visible. There's nothing in it that's fabricated. The old men playing checkers by the trees, the cake that was left out in the rain, all of the things that are talked about in the song are things I actually saw. And so it's a kind of musical collage of this whole love affair that kind of went down in MacArthur Park. ... 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. [4]
Webb and Horton remained friends, even after her marriage to another man. The breakup was also the primary influence for "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", another song written and composed by Webb. [1]
The idea to write and compose a classically structured song with several movements that could be played on the radio came from a challenge by music producer Bones Howe, who produced recordings for The Association. [4]
Sunshine pop band the Association had several hits in the mid-1960s, including "Windy" and "Cherish", which went to number one. In 1967, the group's producer, Bones Howe, asked Jimmy Webb to create a pop song with different movements and changing time signatures.
Webb delivered "MacArthur Park" to Howe with "everything he wanted", but Howe did not care for the ambitious arrangement and unorthodox lyrics. Ultimately, the song was rejected by the group. [7]
"MacArthur Park" was first recorded by Richard Harris after he met the composer at a fundraiser in East Los Angeles, California, in late 1967. Webb had been invited to provide the musical backdrop at the piano. Out of the blue, Harris, who had just starred in the film Camelot and had performed several musical numbers in it, suggested to Webb that he wanted to release a record. At first, Webb did not take Harris seriously, but later he received a telegram from Harris requesting that Webb "come to London and make a record". [1] Webb flew to London and played Harris a number of songs for the project, but none seemed to fit Harris for his pop music debut. The last song that Webb played for Harris was "MacArthur Park". [1]
The track was recorded on December 21, 1967, at Armin Steiner's Sound Recorders in Hollywood. String, woodwind, and brass overdubs were recorded over two sessions on December 29 and 30. [8] The musicians in the original studio recording included members of the Wrecking Crew of Los Angeles-based studio musicians who played on many of the hit records of the 1960s and 1970s. Personnel used included Hal Blaine on drums, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass guitar, and Tommy Tedesco and Mike Deasy on guitars, along with Webb himself on harpsichord.
The song was included on Harris's album A Tramp Shining in 1968 and selected for release as a single, an unusual choice given the song's length and complex structure. It was released in April 1968 [9] and was played by 77 WABC on Tuesday April 9, 1968. [10] It made its way into the Hot 100 at number 79 on May 11, 1968, peaking at number 2 on June 22, 1968, behind Herb Alpert's "This Guy's in Love with You". It peaked at number 10 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey and was number 8 on WABC's overall 1968 chart. [11] It topped the music charts in Europe and Australia and also won the 1969 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s). [12]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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"MacArthur Park" | ||||
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Single by Donna Summer | ||||
from the album Live and More | ||||
B-side |
| |||
Released | September 24, 1978 | |||
Recorded | 1978 | |||
Genre | Disco | |||
Length | 8:27 (album version) 3:59 (single version) 17:47 (with reprise) | |||
Label | Casablanca | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jimmy Webb | |||
Producer(s) | ||||
Donna Summer singles chronology | ||||
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In September 1978, American singer Donna Summer released a multi-million selling vinyl single disco version of "MacArthur Park". The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of November 11, 1978, for three weeks, and earned Summer her first nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Italian producer Giorgio Moroder would recall that he and his collaborator Pete Bellotte had been interested in the concept of either remixing a track – as yet undecided on – which had been a hit in the 1960s or else remaking a 1960s hit as a dance track: Moroder – "I remember that I was driving in ... on the Hollywood Freeway, and I heard the original song [i.e. "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris] on the radio. I thought: 'That's it – that's the song we've been looking for for almost a year.'" Moroder asked Neil Bogart, president of Casablanca Records, to provide him with a copy of the Richard Harris version of "MacArthur Park" to serve as the basis for Moroder's envisioned discofied reinvention: Bogart obliged with an 8-track tape containing Harris's version, prompting Moroder to buy an 8-track player in order to hear it. [21]
Moroder readily identified "MacArthur Park" as (quote) "a great song for Donna – with all those high notes, it was perfect [for her] ... First, I [located] a key that she could sing really high, but still with a big voice – that took an hour or two. I played a little piano and she sang it with my accompaniment. We found a key and we had Greg Mathieson do the arrangement – and then I did something very special" – that "something very special" being Moroder's recording of his own voice to form a choir heard behind Summer on the song's chorus: "I recorded about 20 seconds of all the notes, which I was able to sing on a 24-track. I made a loop of those notes, and put that loop in the [Solid State Logic] desk. I could form eight chords by having C-E-G right on the group. I played the chords by moving the track according to the chord that I needed." Of basing a discofied arrangement on the template for Webb's arrangement on the Harris version Moroder would recall: "To be honest, it was a very difficult song to [arrange], especially the brass, but we had the best musicians in town." [21]
Summer's recording of "MacArthur Park", included as part of the "MacArthur Park Suite" on her double album Live and More , was eight minutes and forty seconds long. The shorter seven-inch vinyl single version – which omits the song's balladic second movement – afforded Summer her first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, also becoming the last of seven hit versions of compositions by Jimmy Webb to reach the Top Ten on the Hot 100, with "MacArthur Park" by Donna Summer being the only recording of a Webb composition to top the Hot 100.
Record World reported that this version produces a "dazzling" effect and that "the syn-drums and inspired production techniques are occasional and dramatic." [22]
The nearly 18-minute musical medley "MacArthur Park Suite" incorporated the original songs "One of a Kind" and "Heaven Knows", the latter being issued as the second single off Live and More. This medley was also sold as a 12-inch (30 cm) vinyl recording, and it stayed at number one on Billboard 's Hot Dance Club Songs chart for five weeks in 1978.
The versions of this medley in Live and More and in the 12-inch recording are notably different in the presentation of the two original songs. In the 12-inch version, "Heaven Knows" was extended to incorporate the instrumental string introduction and the bridge horn solo of the single version for radio stations, but left out the second verse, and "One of a Kind" was trimmed of a large part of the instrumental break but included the second verse. Lyrically, Summer's rendition is also curious, in that it adds the word "Chinese" to clarify what type of checkers was being played.
"MacArthur Park Suite" was not included on the compact disc version of Live and More because of early CD limitations; however, the album version is available on 1987's The Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch Singles . The 12" Special One-Sided Disco DJ Single has been digitally remastered and included on the Bad Girls digipak double CD release. In 2012, "Live and More" was remastered in Japan and included the original LP version of the "MacArthur Park Suite".
In 2013, the song was remixed by Laidback Luke for the Donna Summer remix album Love To Love You Donna (it was also remixed by Ralphi Rosario and Frank Lamboy), which was released to dance clubs all over America, having a successful peaking at No. 1, giving Summer her first posthumous No. 1 and her twentieth No. 1 overall. [23]
British electronic duo Pet Shop Boys used a sample of Summer's version in their 1999 song New York City Boy .
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Canada (Music Canada) [42] | Gold | 75,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [43] | Silver | 250,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [44] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
A cover version of "MacArthur Park" was recorded by country music singer Waylon Jennings on his 1969 album Country-Folk , which included the family group the Kimberlys. This version charted at number 23 on Hot Country Songs and number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100, making its chart debut on August 23, 1969. [45] It also won both acts the 1969 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. [45] [46] It was revisited in 1976 by Jennings, on his album Are You Ready for the Country .
In late 1969, Tony Bennett's cover reached No. 39 on the US Easy Listening chart and No. 40 Canadian Adult Contemporary. [47]
The Four Tops version (1971) reached number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart [48] and number 37 in Canada. [49] The Andy Williams version (1972) debuted on the Easy Listening chart in early August and rose to number 26 over the course of five weeks. [50]
A cover version of "MacArthur Park" was recorded by Scottish progressive rock band Beggars Opera on their 1972 album Pathfinder . Their eight-minute version was panned by music critic Paul Stump who said that the band "over-eggs the already indigestible pudding" of the song. [51]
In 1993, "Weird Al" Yankovic released a parody of the song, entitled "Jurassic Park," as the lead single to his album Alapalooza . [52]
There are at least 218 versions of the song recorded on the SecondHandSongs database. [53]
The song has been featured in a variety of films, including Private Parts , The Nickel Ride (both 1972), Going Ape! (1981), Falling Down (1993), Volcano (1997), Training Day (2001), Havoc , Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (both 2005), and Drive (2011). Both Harris' and Summer's versions of "MacArthur Park" appear in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024); Summer's is heard during the film's opening production logos and closing credits, [54] while, in a similar manner as "Day-O" in the first film, Harris' version is performed during a wedding scene, where it is lip-synched and danced to by the cast.
Donna Adrian Gaines, known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following.
"Take My Breath Away" is a song written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock for the 1986 film Top Gun, performed by American new wave band Berlin. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1986.
"I Feel Love" is a song by the American singer Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, I Remember Yesterday (1977). The album concept was to have each track evoke a different musical decade; for "I Feel Love", the team aimed to create a futuristic mood, employing a Moog synthesizer.
"Last Dance" is a song by American singer Donna Summer from the soundtrack album to the 1978 film Thank God It's Friday. It was written by Paul Jabara, co-produced by Summer's regular collaborator Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, and mixed by Grammy Award-winning producer Stephen Short, whose backing vocals are featured in the song.
Live and More is the first live album recorded by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer, and it was her second double album, released on August 28, 1978 by Casablanca Records.
"Hot Stuff" is a song by Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer, and Keith Forsey released as the lead single by American singer Donna Summer on her seventh studio album Bad Girls, produced by English producer Pete Bellotte and Italian producer Giorgio Moroder in 1979 through Casablanca Records. Up to that point, Summer had mainly been associated with disco songs but this song also showed a significant rock direction, including a guitar solo by ex-Doobie Brother and Steely Dan guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. It is the second of four songs by Summer to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Bad Girls" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer from her 1979 seventh studio album of the same name. Casablanca Records released it as the album's second single on June 23, 1979. The song was produced by Summer's regular collaborators Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, and co-written by Summer and the members of Brooklyn Dreams, Bruce Sudano, Joe "Bean" Esposito and Edward "Eddie" Hokenson.
"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" is a 1979 song recorded by American singers Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer. It was written by Paul Jabara and Bruce Roberts, and produced by Giorgio Moroder and Gary Klein. The song was recorded for Streisand's Wet album and also as a new track for Summer's compilation double album On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II. The full-length version was found on Streisand's album, while a longer 11-minute edit (the 12" version) was featured on Summer's album. The longer 12" version features additional production by frequent collaborator Harold Faltermeyer, and incorporates a harder rock edge.
"On the Radio" is a song by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer, produced by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, and released in late 1979 on the Casablanca record label. It was written for the soundtrack to the film Foxes and included on Summer's first international compilation album On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II.
On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II is the first greatest hits album by American singer Donna Summer, released on October 15, 1979.
The Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch Singles is a compilation album by Donna Summer released in 1987. Summer had become the biggest star of the disco era in the 1970s when signed to Casablanca Records. By 1987, Summer was signed to the Geffen label, and Casablanca had long since been bought out by Polygram. This album was released on Polygram's Casablanca label. It features some of her most famous songs from the disco era in their extended 12" versions, as they would often have been played in the clubs during their popularity.
Live And More Encore is a live album released by Donna Summer in 1999, an edited version of a televised concert of the same name. Released on Sony Music's sublabel Epic, it featured a live concert which had been filmed especially for the VH-1 channel, and also two new dance tracks, including a re-working of "Time To Say Goodbye", a semi-classical song previously made popular by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. Summer's dance version of the song was entitled "I Will Go with You ". Both of the album's two studio recordings, the other being "Love Is the Healer", reached #1 on the US dance charts, with "I Will Go With You" nominated for a Grammy as Best Dance Recording.
"Love to Love You Baby" is a song by American singer Donna Summer from her second studio album (1975). Produced by Pete Bellotte, and written by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, Summer, and Bellotte, the song was first released as a single in the Netherlands in June 1975 as "Love to Love You" and then released worldwide in November 1975 as "Love to Love You Baby". It became one of the first disco hits to be released in an extended form.
"Heaven Knows" is a song by American singer Donna Summer, with guest vocals from Brooklyn Dreams. It is a single from Summer's Live and More album. The song became a number 4 hit for Summer in the US the week of March 17, 1979, and held there for three weeks. It also reached number 3 in Canada. It features the group Brooklyn Dreams with vocals by Joe "Bean" Esposito.
"Dim All the Lights" is a song by American recording artist Donna Summer released as the third single from her 1979 album Bad Girls. It debuted at number 70 on August 25, 1979, and peaked that year at number two on November 10 and November 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. Produced by her longtime collaborator Giorgio Moroder with Pete Bellotte, the track combines Summer's trademark disco beats with a more soulful pop sound. It was the third Hot 100 top-two single from the album and her sixth consecutive Hot 100 top-five single.
"The Wanderer" is a song by American singer Donna Summer, released as the lead single from her 1980 eighth album of the same name, which was the first for her new label Geffen Records after recording her previous albums with Casablanca Records. Despite the label change, Summer continued to work with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, who had produced the majority of her hits in the late 1970s. However, it marks a change in style for The Queen of Disco, incorporating new wave styled synth riffs and a shuffling beat.
"Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" is a Grammy-nominated single from Donna Summer's self-titled 1982 studio album. The single was her 12th top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally recorded by Johnny Rivers in 1965, it was reinterpreted by American country music singer Glen Campbell on his album of the same name. Released on Capitol Records in 1967, Campbell's version topped RPM's Canada Country Tracks, reached number two on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, and won two awards at the 10th Annual Grammys. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) named it the third most performed song from 1940 to 1990. The song was ranked number 20 on BMI's Top 100 Songs of the Century. Frank Sinatra called it "the greatest torch song ever written." It was No. 450 on Rolling Stone magazine's Top 500 Songs of All Time.
American Gigolo is the soundtrack album to the 1980 film of the same name, starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. The music was composed and performed by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder and was released worldwide on the Polydor label. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart. All the cuts from the soundtrack also went to number two for five weeks on the disco/dance charts.
"Didn't We" is a song recorded by Irish singer and actor Richard Harris for his debut studio album, A Tramp Shining (1968). It was written and produced by Jimmy Webb and originally served as the B-side to Harris' 1968 single "MacArthur Park". "Didn't We" was then distributed as the record's single by Dunhill Records, also in 1968. A traditional pop song, Harris sings about his life in the past. Commercially, it charted at lower positions of both the United States and Canada, and in the higher ranks of their Adult Contemporary component charts. Harris featured "Didn't We" on several of his greatest hits albums, including The Richard Harris Collection: His Greatest Performances from 1973. That same year, the song was reissued as a promotional single paired alongside his 1971 single "My Boy".