# MacArthur Park...."The Association" between Richard Harris & Jimmy Webb **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545 "2005-02-05T18:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545/1 "2005-02-05T18:12:27Z")
Since 1968, I have always heard that composer Jimmy Webbs’ masterpeice, MacArthur Park, was turned downed by The Association before being recorded by Richard Harris. As an ardent Richard Harris fan, this is good! I may have never been exposed to Richard’s music had it not been for MacArthur Park. Last week, while motoring, I heard an archivial recording of Richard Harris on the radio talking about his receiving the song after The Association turned it down. Now, thanks to a Goldmine Magazine article about The Association by Chuck Miller, the details of The Associations rejection of the song are made known. Band Member, Jim Yester, states the band was approached by Jimmy Webb while the band was in the studio recording their new album, “Birthday”. The Band had been recording for 15 hours straight when during a break,Jimmy Webb played his 24-minute Cantata- six intermixed songs,of which one of them was “MacArthur Park”. The group liked MacArthur Park, however, Jimmy Webb was unwilling to dismantle his cantata and The Association were unwilling to have a complete side of the new album bare the composition. Eventually, Webb edited his “MacArthur Park” cantata to a seven minute movement which became a Top 5 hit for Richard Harris as well as a #1 dance hit for Donna Summer. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545/2 "2005-02-05T18:16:45Z")
It’s funny, I heard the Donna Summer version first, and for years that was the only one I heard. Then I finally heard the Richard Harris one. I like his much better, even though his is older it has aged better than the disco one IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545/3 "2005-02-05T23:34:46Z")
Mrs. Roboto was watching The Simpsons last evening and I heard Homer singing “MacArthur Park”. He was emulating music-on-hold. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545/4 "2005-02-05T23:46:56Z")
Until you’ve heard the version by Waylon Jennings, you can not claim to be familiar with the MacArthur Park universe. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545/5 "2005-02-06T01:00:20Z")
One must mention the Dave Thomas as Richard Harris SCTV version. ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545/6 "2005-06-05T02:10:00Z")
Believe it or not, the only version I’ve ever heard is Woody Herman’s. Sadly, the album it was on (“Light My Fire”) was never released on CD, only vinyl. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545/7 "2005-06-05T05:56:01Z")
You’ll never really understand MacArthur Park until you’ve heard the Blue Man Group’s all trashcan lid version. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park-the-association-between-richard-harris-jimmy-webb/288545/8 "2005-06-05T08:11:22Z")
I always thought [Jurassic Park](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/w/weird-al-yankovic/145673.html) was one of Weird Al’s better parodies. > [@](#): > > Jurassic park is frightning in the dark > All the dinosaurs are running wild > Someone shut the fence off in the rain > I admit it’s kinda eerie > But this proves my chaos theory > And I don’t think I’ll be coming back again > On no