MacArthur Park Donna Summer: Her First Number One Hit
MacArthur Park Donna Summer's 1978 version turned a decade-old heartbreak ballad into a seventeen-minute disco suite.
The song was already a hit once before, in 1968, sung by an actor with no real singing career.
Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder rebuilt it from the ground up for her live album.
The edited single went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 that November.
This site's own year-end chart data calls it her third number one of that stretch.
Independently verified chart history says otherwise.
MacArthur Park Donna Summer's single was actually her first.
This is the chart-verified story, built from Billboard's own weekly and year-end data and cross-checked against Wikipedia and contemporary chart reporting.
Donna Summer in the recording studio, 1977.
Image credit: Casablanca Records publicity photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Before Donna Summer, MacArthur Park Was Already a Hit
Jimmy Webb wrote MacArthur Park in 1967 as part of a larger song cycle.
He built it from real, visible details of his relationship with Susan Horton.
Horton worked across the street from the actual MacArthur Park in Los Angeles.
The two spent time together there before the relationship ended.
"Everything in the song was visible," Webb said later.
"There's nothing in it that's fabricated."
An Actor, Not a Singer, Made It a Hit First
Richard Harris, better known as an actor than a singer, recorded it on December 21, 1967.
Session players from the Wrecking Crew backed him at Sound Recorders in Hollywood.
The finished track ran 7 minutes and 21 seconds, unusually long for a single at the time.
Released in April 1968, it climbed to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that June.
It also reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.
Jimmy Webb won the 1969 Grammy for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for that recording.
A Country Cover Won a Grammy of Its Own
Waylon Jennings and the Kimberlys recorded a country version not long after.
Their recording won the Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group in 1970.
- 1969: Jimmy Webb wins Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for Richard Harris's original.
- 1970: Waylon Jennings and the Kimberlys win Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.
- 1979: Donna Summer earns a nomination, but not a win, for her disco version.
Two Grammys, in two different genres, went to this song before Summer ever touched it.
Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder Built a Seventeen-Minute Disco Suite
By 1978, Donna Summer was already disco's biggest star.
Producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte reworked the song completely for her double album, Live and More.
The album's first three sides were recorded live at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on June 17, 1978.
The fourth side was all new studio material.
MacArthur Park Donna Summer's full studio recording, released as the MacArthur Park Suite, ran 17 minutes and 47 seconds.
The edited seven-inch single, the version radio actually played, ran 3 minutes and 59 seconds.
The Album That Made It Possible
Live and More reached number one on the Billboard 200 that August.
It was Summer's first number-one album in the United States.
The album went on to double platinum certification.
A second single from it, "Heaven Knows" with Brooklyn Dreams, reached the American top five.
| Detail | Richard Harris (1968) | Donna Summer (1978) |
|---|---|---|
| Full length | 7:21 | 17:47 (suite), 3:59 (single edit) |
| Hot 100 peak | #2 | #1 |
| Weeks at that peak | 1 week at #2 | 3 weeks at #1 |
| Grammy outcome | Won, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) | Nominated, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance |
| Label | Dunhill Records | Casablanca Records |
Where MacArthur Park Donna Summer Landed on the Charts
The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of November 11, 1978.
This site's own weekly Billboard data shows it holding that spot for three straight weeks, through December 1.
That week's fun fact in the site's own data flags something specific about the moment.
Donna Summer was one of 11 acts to reach number one for the first time in 1978.
The song also ranked 12th on this site's own 1979 year-end Hot 100.
The Random 70s Song Generator can pull this same single at random from that year-end chart pool.
Prefer to hear it before reading how it was made? Stream MacArthur Park on Listen Now.
Correcting the Record: First, Not Third
This site's own year-end data file calls it MacArthur Park Donna Summer's "third number one of 1978 to 1979."
Independently verified chart history says the order actually runs the other way.
MacArthur Park was Summer's first Hot 100 number one, not her third.
Her real run, in the correct order, looked like this:
- "MacArthur Park" (November 1978): three weeks at number one, her first.
- "Hot Stuff" (June 1979): three weeks at number one, broken up by one week when the Bee Gees took over.
- "Bad Girls" (July 1979): five weeks at number one, her longest run of the decade.
- "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (November 1979): a duet with Barbra Streisand, her fourth and final Hot 100 number one of the decade.
The Grammy Nomination Two Other Versions Already Won
MacArthur Park Donna Summer earned a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1979 ceremony.
She didn't win it.
Richard Harris's original had already won a Grammy in 1969, for its arrangement.
Waylon Jennings and the Kimberlys had already won a second Grammy in 1970, for their country cover.
Summer's own first Grammy win was still a year away, for a different song entirely.
The Hot Stuff post on this site covers that win, and the 35 dollar guitar solo behind it.
Donna Summer with (from left) Francisca Moroder, Bruce Sudano and Giorgio Moroder, 2007.
Image credit: Wolfgang Moroder, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Why a Song About a Cake Left Out in the Rain Still Works
One line from the song turned it into a punchline for decades.
"Someone left the cake out in the rain" became one of the most mocked lyrics in pop music history.
Jimmy Webb has spent decades explaining that the line was never meant literally.
MacArthur Park Donna Summer's disco version didn't shy away from that reputation.
It leaned into the song's operatic, over-the-top scale instead.
A Song That Keeps Finding New Rooms
A 2013 remix by Laidback Luke, built on Summer's vocal, reached number one on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart.
That's a third different chart, in a third different decade, for the same recording.
The Mood Song Matcher tool on this site groups Summer's catalog by mood and era, not by how many times a song has been rediscovered.
Few 70s singles have been reinterpreted, mocked, and still played this many times.
Set against the rest of the decade on Music of the 70s, that kind of staying power is rare.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote MacArthur Park?
MacArthur Park was written by Jimmy Webb in 1967, based on his real relationship with Susan Horton and their meetings at the actual MacArthur Park in Los Angeles.
Richard Harris recorded it first in December 1967, and it became a top five hit on both the US and UK charts in 1968.
Donna Summer's disco version came eleven years later.
Was MacArthur Park Donna Summer's first number one?
MacArthur Park Donna Summer's single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1978, and it was genuinely her first, not her third as this site's own year-end chart data describes it.
Her second, third and fourth number ones, Hot Stuff, Bad Girls and No More Tears (Enough Is Enough), all followed in 1979.
How long is Donna Summer's MacArthur Park?
The full studio version of MacArthur Park Donna Summer recorded for her 1978 album Live and More runs 17 minutes and 47 seconds, released as the MacArthur Park Suite.
The edited single that radio stations actually played, and that reached number one on the Hot 100, runs 3 minutes and 59 seconds.
Did MacArthur Park win a Grammy?
MacArthur Park won two Grammy Awards before Donna Summer ever recorded it.
Jimmy Webb won Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) in 1969 for Richard Harris's original, and Waylon Jennings and the Kimberlys won Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group in 1970 for their cover.
Summer's 1978 version earned a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance but did not win.
What album is MacArthur Park Donna Summer on?
MacArthur Park Donna Summer's version is the centerpiece of the studio side on Live and More, her 1978 double album mixing live concert recordings with new studio material.
The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, Summer's first number-one album in the United States, and was later certified double platinum.
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