We were pressed in love's hot, fevered iron like a striped pair of pants

[rachelmanija]

It just occurred to me that some of you may have never experienced possibly the most amazing song in existence, MacArthur Park. I refreshed my memory of it yesterday. It's not a parody song - I think - but appears to be very serious. Which makes it much more hilarious. Go on, check it out. At least the first minute or so.

Here, have the Donna "17-

Comments

[desperance]

It's not a parody at all. Jimmy Webb wrote it after a romantic break-up, and was kind of taken aback by both the parodic treatments and the venom it inspired. I don't remember how Richard Harris got involved - though I think he fancied becoming a major singing star after Camelot - but there's a live version out there on the interwebs somewhere with Harris in a beard and a froofy white shirt, in front of a whole orchestra, and I totally recommend hunting it down.

It is also worthy of note that W H Auden - who was a beautiful young man, and an extraordinarily craggy old one - said "My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain."

[rachelmanija]

WOW. I will look for that.

It's amazing how different the cake in the rain line sounds when it's printed words with reasonable context vs sung with a bombastic orchestra accompaniment.

[alessandriana]

Ahahaha. No, I'd never heard that song (or the other one, for that matter).

...It's the striped pants metaphor that gets me the most, I think...

[rachelmanija]

I like the Shakespearean "stri-ped."

[melebeth]

Thank you. Now I'm SINGING THAT IN MY HEAD. *shoots you a glance of pure loathing*

[sartorias]

Oh, listen, the time for that song was when it came out, one was very young, and *ahem* had partaken of serious amounts of herbally enriched brownies. Then it was the most wonderful song in the world. I still recollect the images I got of rivers through the sky, while under the influence.

ETA: Oh yes, and seriously discussing the profound significance of the line "I will win the worship in your eyes, and I will lose it."

[rachelmanija]

Ha ha, that is clearly the best way to listen to that song. I wonder if brownies were also involved in the writing. Maybe that's why the icing is green!

[gwynnega]

My friend Stew's band covered the song in the '90s and changed the line to "someone left the crack out in the rain."

[rachelmanija]

OH NOOOOOOOOO!