MacArthur Park

MacArthur Park is a strange song.

The original was recorded in a teeny studio near Leicester Square, with Richard Harris bellowing his words over the top of lush strings. Listening to it, one is reminded of a manic drunk yelling near the duck pond. Someone left his cake out in the rain.

This remarkable cover by Donna Summer is almost as odd. MacArthur Park becomes a fine piece of disco, achieving a strange poinancy mixed with hot shoe shuffle. It succeeds because it pays no attention whatsoever to the original.

Cover Me

Musicians often do covers. The best are the ones that bring something new to the song, beyond the original. The worst are those that add nothing and subtract the greatness of the original. That poor schmuck covering "Alluelia" for example. That's one that rarely gets any better.

There are good covers, bad covers, and many mediocre ones.

We'll start with Aztec Camera and Van Halen's "Jump". I heard this on holiday recently, and thought it was Lou Reed. It probably should be, but as a friend remarked, it sounds more like an invitation to top yourself than the mad, lycra hugging, masturbatory original. You might as well jump, you know.