Remembering and celebrating Richard Harris on his birthday today. Richard was the first one to chart with Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park" hitting #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, making his first solo album (he previously sang on the Camelot soundtrack) a hit out of the gate. Both that and his second album, The Yard Went On Forever were all Jimmy Webb songs with Jimmy as producer. Already having had a successful acting career, Harris actually became best known in later years for his role as D

I always thought the song MacArthur Park was simultaneously ridiculous and brilliant. Don't get me wrong, this is a compliment to Jimmy Webb, who wrote the song about a real place that I've been to in Los Angeles. Over the past several years, I got into the habit of playing both Donna Summer's and Maynard Ferguson's versions in my dressing rooms or tour busses backstage as I would do makeup and get dressed before shows. I'd sing along to every (strange) word and note and make weird animated face