<Table> <Tr> <Td> "Here in My Heart (Theme from This Sporting Life)" (1963) </Td> <Td> "MacArthur Park" (1968) </Td> <Td> "The Yard Went on Forever" (1968) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> "Here in My Heart (Theme from This Sporting Life)" (1963) </Td> <Td> "MacArthur Park" (1968) </Td> <Td> "The Yard Went on Forever" (1968) </Td> </Tr> <P> "MacArthur Park" is a song written and composed by Jimmy Webb . Richard Harris was the first to record the song in 1968: his version peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number four on the UK Singles Chart . "MacArthur Park" was subsequently covered by numerous artists, including a hit version in 1969 by country music singer Waylon Jennings . Among the best - known covers is Donna Summer's disco arrangement from 1978 which topped the Billboard Hot 100 . </P> <P> "MacArthur Park" has been called the worst song ever written . Its flowery lyrics and metaphors (notoriously likening lost love to a cake left out in the rain) have been described as "bloated" and "loopy ." Webb commented: "Those lyrics were all very real to me: there was nothing psychedelic about it to me . The cake, it was an available object . It was what I saw in the park at the birthday parties ." </P>

Who sang the original version of macarthur park