McArthurs Park - Richard Harris

[tirebiter]

3. MacArthur Park was written for the The Association.

-The Association did not record "MacArthur Park" because their producer, Bones Howe, considered the song's ambitious arrangement and unconventional lyrics to be unsuitable for their style, ultimately rejecting it when songwriter Jimmy Webb presented it to the group; they deemed it too long and complex for their typical pop sound.-

-Jimmy Webb clears up Association/"MacArthur Park" story-

His response was that there never was a suite-- " I wish I could pull something like that out of my bag." He said that "Mac Arthur Park" was all that he brought to the Assocoation, who were well into the Birthday album at the time. They would have had to pull two or three of their tunes off to make way for a seven-minute song and weren't willing to do so. Webb said he was sporry that the story always made the Association look bad, and that he had no hard feelings at the time. But he did confirm that as far as he knows, Bones Howe walked out on the Association afterward because of this.