# MacArthur Park **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 26, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414 "2026-05-26T20:52:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/81 "2026-05-28T21:47:09Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [It is.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Park#Music) The park got renamed for the general in '42. And got renamed back at some point? The sign where I came in just said “MacArthur Park,” not “Westlake Park.” This was in 2019. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/82 "2026-05-28T21:48:47Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > The thought occurs to me that in the 50 years I worked in the radio biz that I never once played that song. It was never in the library of any station I ever worked, and I got into radio in 1971, just a few years later. It fell off the charts and was gone forever. I was also in radio in the 70s. The reason that song wasn’t in any station’s oldies library was because it was too damn long. That 7+ minute opus busted format clocks in every format. You had to make an exception for current hits ranging from Stairway to Heaven to Blinded by the Light, but you didn’t hear songs like Like A Rolling Stone, the full version of Light My Fire, or even Hey Jude when it was time to play an oldie. Maybe some alternative stations were still playing long cuts, but they weren’t the ones who’d play MacArthur Park anyway. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/83 "2026-05-29T00:30:40Z")
Seriously, I wouldn’t have known the park was MacArthur Park if the sign had said Westlake Park. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/84 "2026-05-29T00:37:26Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Thank you. cool kid. All us cool kids are big Glen Campbell fans. 😃 > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The rest of us that like it happen to disagree. Well go ahead, disagree with the substance of what I said in that post. There’s specifics there that you can take issue with. Or you can just reply with little snipey digs. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/85 "2026-05-29T17:53:03Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > All us cool kids are big Glen Campbell fans. Hey, in the Mandela-universe I came from, Campbell replaced John Lennon in the Beatles, who never broke up. And with Billy Preston, they went on to great success in the 70s and 80s. We didn’t get Wings, so no Silly Love Songs\*, but we did get Dreams of the Everyday Housewife as a Beatles song. And maybe Wichita Lineman, but it was arranged different. \*and what’s wrong with that? a lot! ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/86 "2026-05-29T17:55:52Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Campbell replaced John Lennon in the Beatles Wow! There’s something to think about. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/87 "2026-05-29T18:03:57Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > There’s something to think about. I know Glen said he didn’t like those long-haired hippie types, but I can imagine if he sat down and did some…tea…with McCartney he’d realize they weren’t that different. He did get along with Jimmy Webb, bringing us back to the OP. OK now I’m imagining a Beatles version of MacArthur Park, done up like it would fit Sgt Pepper, or maybe The White Album. Put some sitar in there! Oh my! ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/88 "2026-05-29T18:22:28Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And maybe Wichita Lineman, but it was arranged different. Liverpool Lineman? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/89 "2026-05-29T18:44:33Z")
_I am a Copper for the Country_ _I drive the BBC Van_ _Searchin in the rain for your hidden tele screen_ ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/90 "2026-05-31T20:49:48Z")
Overlong, pretentious, cryptic, and sappy, but far from the worst example of any of those categories. Jimmy Webb was before my time (and Hawaii in the 60’s was a complete cultural wasteland anyway), so I was spared the oversaturation and don’t have the viscerally negative reaction most of you do. I’ll listen to it over Proud to Be an American (😩🤮) any day. Or According to Him (🤬 The **only** thing that could have saved that is if it were literally about the effeminate devil in The Powerpuff Girls). Or anything by Mariah Carey. Only time I heard Donna Summer’s disco version was when Alysa Liu used it for her free skate. Unusual choice, but I found nothing objectionable. (Honestly, Liu was so bulletproof she could’ve made MC Hammer work.) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414/91 "2026-05-31T23:33:29Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > All us cool kids are big Glen Campbell fans. 😃 > **[Glen Campbell Sings "A Thing Called Love" (Jerry Reed)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3l-uen-RnY%2F)** > > From July 1997, Glen Campbell sings the Jerry Reed-penned Johnny Cash hit "A Thing Called Love", and talks with host Gary Chapman about quitting smoking & dr... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/macarthur-park/1030414.md?page=4)