April 9, 1968: "MacArthur Park" Is Released

April 9, 1968: "MacArthur Park" is released. It is one of the great recordings of its era, regardless of musical style.

Jimmy Webb wrote it. He also wrote "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Where's the Playground Susie?" and "The Worst That Could Happen," all about his failed relationship with Susie Horton. She worked across the street from MacArthur Park in downtown Los Angeles, and they used to go on picnics there.

Webb's 1st hit song was "Up, Up and Away," which was also the 1st hit for The 5th Dimension, a black vocal group from Los Angeles. Dayton "Bones" Howe had produced their hits, and the hits of The Association, a band also from Los Angeles. For both of these groups, instead of a straight rock and roll backing, Howe had used full orchestras.

Bones Howe

He asked 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, and the song was rejected by The Association.

Jimmy Webb

Webb met Irish actor Richard Harris at a fundraiser in Los Angeles in late 1967. Webb had been invited to provide the fundraiser's musical backdrop at the piano. Out of the blue, Harris, who had just starred in the film version of the musical 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." 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."

The track was recorded on December 21, 1967, at Armin Steiner's Sound Recorders in Los Angeles. 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 the harpsichord that opens the piece.

The song, and the single's B-side, "Didn't We?" (which also became a standard, though not a hit single for anyone), were included on Harris's album A Tramp Shining in 1968, and selected for release as a single. It was an unusual choice, given the song's length -- 7 minutes and 21 seconds -- and its complex structure.

It made its way onto 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." This was one of the great injustices in Hot 100 history. It topped the music charts in Europe and Australia, and also won the 1969 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist or Vocalists.

Jokes were made about the song's length: If a disc jockey needed to use the bathroom, and it was 1965, '66 or '67, he would play Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"; if it was 1968, '69, '70 or '71, he would play that or "MacArthur Park"; if it was 1972 or after, he could use one of those, or Don McLean's "American Pie."

At a meeting of WABC disc jockeys long after the fact, Dan Ingram recalled his 1st live broadcast for the station, in 1961, saying he had to step out, and, "We didn't have 'MacArthur Park' back then!" Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow said, "You gonna reveal our secret?" Always ready with a joke, Dan said, "Be fleet of foot!"

The lines about the cake being left out in the rain sounded psychedelic, and have been suggested to be a drug reference. But the line, "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" resonated that Summer of '68, as Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated, and the 35-year New Deal, the 14-year Civil Rights Movement, the 7-year New Frontier, and the 4-year Great Society all seemed to be over.

Richard Harris never had another hit song. He continued one of the finest acting careers of his era, and died in 2002, having played Albus Dumbledore in the 1st 2 films based on the Harry Potter books, with the role being taken over by Michael Gambon.

As of April 9, 2022, Jimmy Webb and Bones Howe are still alive. The song has been covered by many performers, including Donna Summer, who hit Number 1 with a shortened, disco version in 1978.

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April 9, 1968 was a Tuesday. Major League Baseball delayed its opening games until the next day, at the request of the players, because this was the day set for the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Football was out of season. The NBA and ABA Playoffs were underway, but only 1 game was played, an ABA game: The Dallas Chaparrals beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 112-109 at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas.

There were 3 games in the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs:

* The New York Rangers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the brand-new 33rd Street version of Madison Square Garden.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 5-2 at the Boston Garden.

* And the Minnesota North Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-5 at the Metropolitan Sorts Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.