MacArthur Park

The park was originally named Westlake Park, and built in the 1880s. It was renamed shortly after the end of World War II.

MacArthur Park is most famous for the song named after it, originally a hit song written by Jimmy Webb and performed by Richard Harris in 1968. In 1978, a disco version by Donna Summer again hit the tops of the charts.

It was a most unusual single, running for more than seven minutes, with lyrics more symbolic than descriptive, and a climactic orchestral break, but apparently about a lost love and a rendezvous in the park. It has been covered more than 50 times, including versions by Waylon Jennings, Glenn Campbell[?], and Liza Minelli[?].

Quotation

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

No, no