Whew...it's been kind of an emotional week. Thanks for hanging in there while I was "away".
I've re-grouped...for the moment anyway.
I had a special request for revival of the "Drippin' with Cheeze" series.
Please understand...the Cheezee songs have to meet a certain criteria in order for me to post them:
- They have to tell a story
- There has to be a loss of some kind (life, limb, mind, virginity - whatever)
- They have to be so BAD...they are good...in a "I will sing this song at a Karaoke bar if I am really, REALLY drunk, on a dare and if someone paid me " kind of way.
This song fits those 3 very "critical" criteria!
To me...there is only one true version of this song...but it's been covered so many times it's hard to keep track of them all.
But - before I reveal the song...let me give you a bit of background thanks to my friends over at Songfacts.
Originally written as a 22 minute "cantata", it was scaled down to just the last portion or "coda" that when finally recorded ran 7 minutes and 20 seconds. ("Hey Jude" by the Beatles which came out prior to this song ran 7:11)
The writer, Jimmy Webb...also wrote some other great cheezee songs like: "Up, up and Away", "Witchita Lineman" and "Galveston."
It wasn't sung...so much as it was acted out and over dramatized and that is what makes this song kind of unique. The person "singing" it...was not a singer at all...he was an actor.
Are you catching on?
The original version was performed by Richard Harris.
Dumbledore?
Yup...that guy!
Before he was the bearded wizard he looked like this:
I am not of the age of remembering him EVER looking like this...but I thought he looked so gorgeous in this picture I had to put it up there!
The song is MacArthur Park and it's a classic!
When I was a kid and heard it on the radio...I thought to myself: "wow...that is a really BAD song...why is he talking about a cake melting in the rain?"
This guy can't sing! He's horrible!
Well hey...it was 1967 and everyone was "turning on, tuning in and dropping out" so I guess it was "really cool in a hip and happenin' kind of way!"
Far out!
Ya dig?
(Soooooooo...I need a little work on my 60's speak - I was more the 80's girl - so sue me!)
Hey you groovy guys and gals...put on your love beads or put some flowers in your hair and relax and take 7:20 out of your life and just listen for a while!
MacArthur Park
Written by: Jimmy Webb
Performed by: Richard Harris
Spring was never waiting for us, girl
It ran one step ahead
As we followed in the dance
Between the parted pages and were pressed
In love's hot, fevered iron
Like a striped pair of pants
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
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
Oh, no!
I recall the yellow cotton dress
Foaming like a wave
On the ground around your knees
The birds, like tender babies in your hands
And the old men playing checkers by the trees
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
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
Oh, no!
[break]
There will be another song for me
For I will sing it
There will be another dream for me
Someone will bring it
I will drink the wine while it is warm
And never let you catch me looking at the sun
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
You'll still be the one
I will take my life into my hands and I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow like rivers through the sky
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
I'll be thinking of you
And wondering why
[extended break]
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
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
Oh, no!
Oh, no
No, no
Oh no!!
If you want to listen to the Donna Summer version ...click here.
This one's for you Neetzy!!!
Have a great weekend all!
Peace...love...far out - solid!
7 comments:
WOAH!
SOOOOO not cheezy, Shazza!
This is still a regular on my iPod on the train, together with Jimmy Webb's own solo piano version.
I've loved this since it first came out (and yes, sadly I have both his albums on heavy old vinyl).
You can't argue with "A Man Called Horse".
Sure, the lyrics are utterly dire.
Sure, the music is overblown (you should hear the rest of the albums, holy moly)!
Sure, he couldn't sing to save his life …
But cheezy?
Only the finest roquefort.
I genefluct in gratitude in the general direction of Noo Joysey.
Have a roistering weekend!
Dive - Cheers!
Something tells me "In loves hot fevered iron" might in fact qualify as "drippin with cheese" whether Dive believes so or not. Bahahaha
Your posts are SO AMUSING Shazza! I remember this song playing at my house as a kid and it always confused me but also always got stuck in my head. Boy was I surprised to learn that Dumbledore sang it! What the....???? :D
Hope you have recovered from your emotional toughies. (I didn't see the date that was written.) Take care!
Another WOND favorite! Dad's place of employment and Mom's kitchen radio will always be imprinted on my soul. The daughters A and D have been singing this for weeks now. We have been baking cakes all summer for some odd reason. For A's birthday we made a Portal Cake. If anyone is familiar with the computer game "Portal" they will know the cake that is full of lies and deceit.
Shazza, have you been Rickrolled yet?
Shan - Hey! Good to see you..thanks for stopping by. I like the way he says "strip-ed" pair of pants.
Neetzy - I'm afraid to ask what is "Rickrolled" I don't think I'm going to like this very much.
To me that song always had bad acid trip written all over it.
I'd never heard that version. Wow!
Of course, I grew up in a town that only had radio reception that was all country. I didn't discover the rest of the world until I was in my teens.
At least, now that I'm older, I like the old country standards. HATED country for years.
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