Added: 4 years ago
From: ecidarocnarf
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  • What an incredibly complex arrangement with lots of fanfare.

  • love the song!

  • 1. What's rare about this?

    2. Dumbledore should sing this song with the classes when the year begins.

  • What the hell is this song about?

  • Qulle mauvaise traduction!!! J.B.

  • Un chanteur sublime , trop peu connu en France; Hélas il n'est plus mais sa voix et son image demeurent.

  • Dumbledore can sing

  • My late brothers favorite song of all time

  • the 70,s were my decade and there were sum great times . but this is the GREATEST record EVER made ....BAR NONE

  • - rare song ? Ina pigs eye! 70's radio played this ad infinitum. It is an Iconic song of the times and won a Grammy for "Best Orchestration" in 1969. It has been covered by a throng of prominent artists (50+). Even though it has been voted the worst song in some impromptu polls, people had to have heard it and been familiar with it to make a judgement. It is not a rare song.

  • youtube -> yves paquet - mcarthur park

  • I remember hearing this song on the radio in 1968. I immediately ran out and bought the record, memorized the lyrics printed on the back of the picture sleeve, and allowed this 7 minute song to become a part of my soul. God bless you, Richard; and thanks!!

  • @bigbootywholes Fuck You!

  • I actually feel a bit sorry for people who didn't grow up with such beautiful music. It has added a wonderful dimension to my life. The lovely part of the song @ 2:50 has an 'expanded moment' quality to it. Time stands still and it feels other-worldly.

    My wife was born in a different culture and she loves this song. It's been a lot of fun to introduce her to this song and Roberta Flacks cover of 'The First Time'.

  • Some people consider this song awesome. Some people consider this song terrible. I, for one, consider this song awesomely terrible.

  • @TheRandomfanboy Are you the Miz's fans by any chance?

  • gets better & better as time goes by

  • Fantastic song and any body who doesn't like it well listen to something else. Down in my will to be played at my funeral (not for a long time I hope)

  • I was so sure I had a copy of Harris extended version on Dunhill records.Wish I could be sure. Also there was a goood version of this done by Waylon Jennings and the kimberleys. They were never in the same country or studio to make such a well put together piece of music. Heck wuth the meaning, I enjoy the voive and tune. 2 Out of 3 is not bad.

  • I was so sure I had a copy of Harris extended version on Dunhill records.Wish I could be sure.

  • A magnificent song indeed, wonderfully orchestrated, and outstandingly performed by Richard Harris. It certainly is a matter of personal taste, but his rendition of this song is in my opinion the best compared to other well-known singers' versions. Why on earth has he not recorded more songs?

    StExup55

  • I never grow tired of this magnificent song ...so beautifully performed by R.Harris , it gets to me every time , Do we care about silly comments ? NO ......

  • Thanks for the upload. I appreciate it.

  • The true meaning of the lyrics are hidden under the words. I know what they mean, I've been there.One of the greater songs ever written exploding strong and beautiful emotions. Thank you Jimmy Webb concertpianist1

  • Great music, great arrangement, great break (ripped off by pearl & dean) great singing - bloody dreadful lyrics.

  • 5:08 : Pearl and Dean theme (aka Asteroid by Pete Moore) anyone?

  • The song is a spoof. Only a turbin head would be so stupid to think this is a ligit tune.

  • @peterboy48 Hey, Dumb Ass, this was a real song from the 70's. I still have the album. Do you know what that is? I loved this song.

  • @peterboy48 Yes it was a hit for several people...Richard Harris and Donna Summer to name two.

  • fuk donna summers version this one rules and those of you who do not agree FU2 !!

  • Hey buddy - there called Metaphors. You might be right to be aggravated. You got that right. But worst song ever? Let the dreamers and folks with imagination enjoy this little romp through the park. And laugh a little with your kid......

  • Sorry I think this really is the stupidest song ever -- except for the fact that my baby dies laughing whenever he hears it cause he knows it aggravates me. You'll never find that recipe again? Ever heard of the internet, invented I believe by Mr. Babbage in the 1800's???? Or how about just giving IBM a call. This song comes close to making me want to kill myself, it is so horrible

  • I love the song, but it is certainly not rare, I have the 45 somewhere.

  • love all the big production numbers from the 60's

  • Jimmy Webb who wrote this song said: "It's clearly about a love affair ending, and the person singing it is using the cake and the rain as a metaphor for that. OK, it may be far out there, and a bit incomprehensible, but I wrote the song at a time in the late 1960s when surrealistic lyrics were the order of the day."

    Webb's original lyrics mention that the cake was laced with hashish, but this was left out due to "legalities".

    I was a young sober lad and hated it - now I find it spliffing!

  • c'est une merveille

  • Many forgot this Wonderful gem was a smash hit in its time...... a VERY long song for those days- (not Hey Jude yet).

    GREAT!!

  • In righteous STEREO, no less! Thank you for the quality posting of this masterpiece!

  • He was truly a man of great talent, very very underestimated , by a vast amount of people, he truly was a man called horse, a very rare talent that we will never see again.

  • 11 losers dont like this song

  • @Planktontwo They must have left their cake out in the rain too.

  • @gotch09 I think you are right. Probably because they do not have any patience, because it they just could not take it, cuz it took so long to bake it. And sad because they will never have that recipe again. Oh no!!! lol

  • @Planktontwo 9 months later it is 17 people who are losers and cannot find their way to McArthurs' Park.

  • I was just a kid when this was hitting the airwaves, and we kids thought it was just a huge joke! We laughed and laughed, made fun of the lyrics, the singing, you name it.

    Now it sounds great, and I didn't realize Richard Harris sung it!

  • i dont know why i love this song.the words are ridulous.but somehow it is one of my favorite songs ever.

  • Best song ever ever ever ever ever! The poetry is poignant. The reason it's so good is that it's incomparable. It doesn't resemble anything else!

    "I will take my life into my hands and I will use it...

    I will win the worship in your eyes, and I will lose it..'

    When I was 11 and discovered this song, it slew me...still does.

  • @DavidCKendall loved your comment. This song knocks me over each time I hear it. Love it.

  • Or....maybe he was just stoned out of his mind, and it doesn't mean anything. Seems to me one of those kind of songs that sounds really good, till you hear it sober. It's crap! lol. Not everything from this era is ground breaking. Musicaly it's great. The guy can sing. But the lyrics are some of the most ridiculous tripe I've ever heard. I mean come on. Cake in the rain? Yeah I get it, it's a metaphor, but it's a stupid one lol. Half baked nonscense, great instumentals though.

  • The lyrics, which include the lines "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", are symbolic and metaphorical. The song begins as a poem about love, then moves into a lover's lament.[4] When asked by interviewer Terry Gross what was going through his mind when he wrote the lyrics, Webb replied that the lyrics were meant to be symbolic, and they referred to the end of a love affair.

  • The lyrics, which include the lines "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", are symbolic and metaphorical. The song begins as a poem about love, then moves into a lover's lament.[4] When asked by interviewer Terry Gross what was going through his mind when he wrote the lyrics, Webb replied that the lyrics were meant to be symbolic, and they referred to the end of a love affair.

  • For ALL the retards who dont understand the underlying message of the lyrics, please dont keep embarrasing yourself in front of the rest of the planet by showing the world what intellectual insects you actually are.

    Great song, sung by a great man, rest in peace Ricky!!

  • I LOVE IT WHY the man was so before his time

  • Richard Harris once bragged that he could deep throat Milton Berle's cock while Rock Hudson phucked him in his fat ass.

  • after this, I noticed that pearl and dean whose adverts were a part of going to the cinema had a version of the speeded up riff at 5 . 09 which was a bit of a commercialisation i think.

  • I miss my youth...

  • Great 60's song , I remember it coming on the radio as I set off from whaley bridge and was still on when I got to buxton about 7 minutes later.

    Richard one of the greats

  • King,King,King!!! The original #1 song in 1968! This is what im talking about, harris beautiful, tearjerker, full of the highest emotion, truth, a real symphony, best arrangment. i believe him! i feel it all the way to the end. This is the best of them all! so all cheap imitatator's sit your a.... down don't embarrass yourself trying to do this tasteful classic. Sir Richard Harris is the winner here!!!

  • obrigado pela esta cancao

  • The bridge of this song is as well written as anything Bach could have written. If you never hear this song you miss out on a great part of human emotion. Very well written and I am a song writer myself....Im glad I remembered my mom singing it. I stumbled acrossed. Powerful lyrics.. powerul melodoy. The hemiolia contrast is perfect.

  • The bridge of this song is as well written as anything Bach could have written. If you never hear this song you miss out on a great part of human emotion. Very well written and I am a song writer myself....

  • OTHERS HAVE TRIED TO COVER THIS BUT THIS IS THE BEST

  • I was born in 83, and I love this song!

  • Great Song, you had to grow up in the time to apreciate it

  • Oh this is how it goes lol. I have always thought it was a very long silly song about a ruined cake lol, oops.

  • Awesome song!!!

  • best version of this song

  • 3off

  • @

    3on3off  amo esta musica

  • IF FOR NO OTHER REASON, I LIKE TO GET FRIENDS AND RELATIVES TO HIT THE NOTES HE HITS. EVEN IF IT IS FALSETTO, I'VE NEVER MET ANYONE YET THAT CAN GET CLOSE.. GOOD LORD, EVERY SINGER HAS HAD A NON-SENSE SONG IN THEIR TIME. WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT HE WAS A GOOD ACTOR AND CAN SING

  • @LAWDAWG147 Those are back-up singers, you douchebag.

  • Someone left my laptop out in the rain,and I dont think I can take it ,

    there will be another computer for me for and I wont break it.

  • I think you have to be hip to Jimmy Webb lyrics to understand this song, otherwise you might as well listen to southern rock or John Prine or etc. (pretty good stuff too) but this material is not for the beginner or the casual listener. Shades of Wagner!

  • Sounds like Good Vibrations, Bohemian Rhapsody, Free Bird and such as that

  • dis dude was high or something lol

  • OMG THIS IS THE FAGGIEST SONG EVER !!!

  • @cjw101864 To a tasteless clown like you perhaps...

  • @francovance1 You really put me in my place ! Tell your Mom I said, "thanks"

  • @cjw101864 AND HOW WOULD YOU BE KNOWING THAT????

  • @LAWDAWG147 Because IT IS !

    

  • This has got to be a novelty song. It sounds like the singer is stifling a laugh.

  • I may be crazy ..but this songreminds me of Michael Jackson is sad like his life ....

  • Comment removed

  • marvellous song!!!!! but is it Richard Harris the one who played Dumbledore in Harry Potter???

  • Richard Harris...the Actor?

  • Comment removed

  • @pjezierski - Yup, Richard Harris, the actor.

  • GREAT SONG! SWEET MEMORIES AS A CHILD! THANKS FOR POSTING THIS SONG!

  • We lived across the street from MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, California back in the early 60's. Long live RH and the 60's.

  • BEST SONG EVERY..........LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THE WORDS

  • How is this song rare? Wasn't it one of the biggest songs of the year when it came out?

  • "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 recipe again." Thank Goodness they don't write lyrics like that. This is the stupidest song ever, Jimmy Webb had to be on a high to write this.

  • @senorkaboom ---you're a moron.....

  • This song is epic. Speaks to so many lost loves and irreparably bad moves in the pursuit of that one true one. Mr. Harris lends the absolute best voice and emotion to a beautifully scored, lush instrumental backup. A lump in the throat for any of us who've been there. I know first hand.

  • the very best version.......

  • I recall this song from my younger days and still like it.

    Richard Harris died not very long ago. He was an excellent actor

    as well.

  • BURP

  • this song so sad

  • I just did somethin on youtube to find somethin this is what i'm looking from :)

  • 2122---He didn't write it genius.

  • They make up a minority. There is a good reason why the song was a hit when first released, hit, why it's been covered by some of our greatest artists and why it's so popular on you tube. There will always be people who don't get genius.

  • I'm 12 and even I think this is brilliant

  • Further to some remarks @ Richard Harris and his intentions: Harris sang the song, beautifully, but it was written by jimmy Webb. I listened to a radio interview with him in which he wryly acknowledged he was perhaps TOO indirect, for many people, in the lyrics of M. Park. He also discussed other well known hits he wrote, such as "Galveston" and "The Wichita Lineman." An unusual pop song writer in his orchestration ability, shown to full advantage in M. Park.

  • @Varavicky

    Didn't notice my partner had signed me out & signed himself in--remarks of "Varavicky actually posted by ecanuck.

  • this brings back memories. of a love that should've been. compelling lyrics.

  • i am also called Lupita and i to am a big fan of richy harris.

  • an epic song! superb!

  • You are all stupid. You need to realize that Richard Harris actually made this song to prove that he could make a hit song out of nothing. The lyrics he says are exactly what he says a cake recipe in the rain there is no metaphor for lost relationships or anything. Its just Richard Harris proving a point..

  • Interpreting the lyrics: The man singing is mourning a relationship ending which he thinks he can never replace (I'll never have that recipe again.) Even if he lives life to the fullest, as he suggests in many verses. MacArthur Park is melting in the dark --he's likely weeping, thinking of his visit there with his lost love. All the sweet green icing running down--someone left the cake out in the rain--these are similes. THANKS very much for posting this.

  • @ecanuck You nailed it.

  • The cake is a lie.

  • soooo weird

  • MacArthur Park, Los Angeles' MacArthur Park?

  • Beautiful, emotionally charged song from a man not renown as a singer. Richard Harris. R.I.P.

  • have a hard time excepting the fact that some people are musically deaf and have the nerve to say something neg about a song as beautiful as this.

  • Yes, I agree with you, Lupita. My name is also Lupita. I love this song and I will always.

  • Are you french? I am studying french as my fourth language. Are you perhaps in France. How come is your name Lupita also? The metaphores of Mc Arthur's Park are unique. I always think of a lost love and when I lose a love I go to Mc Arthur's Park with Richard Harris.

  • A wonderful poem made song and sung by a very melodious and sensitive voice.

    I will allways love it, even after all the loves of my life. Lupita Mueller

  • My name is also Lupita. I love this song and always will. It is awesome and mystical.

  • lmfao I remember the first time my dad sang this song and I was just like WTF?? oh man so random!!

  • a great song , evelasting, one of the kind and sang by Mr.. R.Harris a multi award actor.

  • excuse me....why "rare"?????

    harris's mc arthur is a really well knowed song and is becomed a standard with a lot of covers...

  • Because "rare"ly are songs this inane, melodramatic, and utterly stupid. Like a 3 year old sketched out the lyrics in his own poop.

  • i like weird al's better

  • Great. Just great. Now I want cake!! LOL!

  • I love the part: "...and I'll never have that recipe again.....OOOOOOHHHH NOOOOO" -he he he!!

  • the wierd al version was better

  • Fabulous song. Indeed a classic !

    And Richard's voice has a quality in it that I find irresistible. Soft and sensual.

    He is inded "McArthur's Park" hero, like he was my hero King Arthur in CAMELOT, the movie.

    I come to this U-TBE site just to listen to Richard sing this song. Him ...and also Rick Nelson singing AGAIN !

    I have followed his tune since 1968 when it first came out.

    It brings back to my heart very nostalgic memories.

  • LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • SOMEONE needs to bake a cake and take it ti the park and put it to this vid!

  • Love this! The music takes you up and down and swirls all round! I will always remember my neighbor , Cecelia Bach.

    A beautiful red-haired woman who LOVED

    this SONG!

  • I love this song the music is a swirl!

    I will always remember Cece;Bach...

    a beautiful red-haired lady who lived next dr to us, and she,

  • This is my favorite song! I don't care what others say.  This tune ROCKS!

  • it shouldn't matter what others say. This is classic, and the beauty of individuality! Love the song and everyone who agrees with you will do the same, screw everyone else.

  • @geor67Adoro esta musica!!!!!.

  • RARE.......??

    This was a brilliant major world hit in''68.

    And to be found on a zillion compilation CD's

    You probably meant "Rare good" ;]

  • an outstanding one of a kind song. You would have to have a heart of stone not to feel its power.

    thanks for sharing.

  • Comment removed

  • A great song, a great recording. If one did radio in the late 60s and 70s there were three "carts" one needed to have available; this one, Don McLean's American Pie, and Spanky & Our Gang's Sunday morning - the long version; all of which were superb recordings.

  • The line 'Someone left the cake out in the rain' is always hilarious to me.

  • hello fans of this song.there are some interseting fact about it,it came out just before hey jude in 1968 and they are about the same lenght,another fact is it has never been on any cd except the richard harris cd,tramp shinning,since cds have been out I dont recall seeing it on any greatest hits compilitation,on import maybe,time life put out 5 cds from 1968 on that ffirst series with the blue covers and di not include it, this new series thats out on tv has 10 or more cds and its not there,,

  • This is my bestfriend Andrea's and I's song. lol We always sing it at the top of our lungs and annoy all of our friends. Ahh memories!

  • Ask Tony Blackburn about the times he played it on the new Radio One . There was stunned silence when this went out on Radio One for the first time,it was so long for a start, and the lyrics went over most peoples heads! It was of its time,original,an enigma,a one off,not run of the mill yet hugely popular. A piece of art to be enjoyed by all,always. Thanks Richard.

  • So very long ago. My youth,my loves,my memories. Gone, like the wind that once gone cannot return. Sadness numbs but never goes away. Seems times were always better back then. Lovely memories still linger but they are forever gone. My heart longs for one little piece of this beautiful past to occupy its soul. May God grant this last favor to one who longs for the romance & happiness of days long gone.

  • brings back so many memories of the 60's i always cry with this

    sentimental or what

    still one of the best songs of my era

    well done richard - i miss you

  • I remember this song from the summer of 68 like it was yesterday. This is THE one and only amazing version of McArthur Park..dark and misterious as it should be!

    Thanks for posting this!

  • I always think of Brak when I hear this song. somebody left a cake out in the rain, oh no!

  • One of the most beautiful songs ever written. And sung so wonderfuuly by Richard Harris.  So emotive and haunting.

    Thanks for posting this. 5******

  • "Jimmy Webb is the most important pop music figure to emerge since Bob Dylan."

    Peter Reilly of Stereo Review

  • good memory

  • BEAUTIFUL:)

  • Absolutely the best version of this song.

  • I remember this record being so much longer than anything that was playing in May of 1968. I can't say that Richard Harris had a great singing voice but it hit the bullseye in this song. This is the best version of this song and always will be. Thanks ecidarocnarf for posting this.

  • My local Baker says he never heard of a metaphor cake but he says he can bake a humble pie.If the cake melts how can you tell it was a metaphor cake,by the color of the gooey puddle left behind?Metaphor sounds kinda minty.....and another thing..I think the cake was not left in the rain,it was just LEFT OUT..then it started raining..left in the rain sounds intentional.

  • You'd be surprised how many people take this song literally...no, there never was a cake that was left out in the rain...no chocolate bar left in the car, no beer left out in the hot sun, it's all metaphor anyway you want to put it.

  • dia33386

    Way to not get a reference!

    Also, you sound like and idiot!

    Yay!

    I'm really milking this now!

    Whoo-hoo!

    Okay.

    I'm done.

  • What I am wondering is how come there is not a Ray Conniff version of this song on You Tube. I got the album, but lack the expertise to get it posted. Come on people, lets get that version up here!

  • dodgedavis: WHAT? As much as I love & appreciate & love Ray Conniff's music versions - there is only ONE version of "MacArthur Park" & it is Richard Harris'!

  • Comment removed

  • I never really listened to the words it really strange yet the melody is great

  • Forget the cake; what about the wine ?

  • The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie.
  • FinisEnfinito: Hey - get over it re "the cake is a lie"!

    BTW: - *way* overdone w/ that

    "cake is a lie" crap!

    Get REAL here folks!

    "The Cake" is a freakin METAPHOR fergodssakes! Get a clue, people!

    It's about taking that one special LOVE for granted - losing it b/c U didn't realize its worth! And, now your regret it

  • The cake is the love he still feels, but after it is left alone he is like a cake that is left out in the park in the rain. He wonders if he finds the recipe (for love) again and also it took so long to bake it, ie he invested much quality time and all he got was a rainy day in the park with a wet cake. So: the cake is a tragedy the cake is a tragedy the cake is a tragedy the cake is a tragedy the cake is a tragedy the cake is a tragedy the cake is a tragedy the cake is a tragedy
  • schusterlehrling: Must U reiterate 'finisEnfinito' overuse of a

    quote that takes up so much space?

    Get a life - get Real! Don't be so

    less-than-academic/smart!

    While I appreciate ur sad attempt 2 verify

    Webb's lyrics - gotta think ur trying to pull something over on us!

    GET A LIFE!