This post was originally shared June 23, 2009

Okay, this is the answer to the trivia question “What was Richard Harris’s follow-up song to “MacArthur Park” – voted in some circles to be the worst song of the Rock & Roll era ? I quite disagree on that, and wish to say that this one is a little easier to decipher. Enjoy!

Richard Harris was one of my favorite actors, dating back to his appearance  in the movie of Lerner and Lowe’s “Camelot”. then in “Guns of Nazarone”, “A Man Called Horse”, “Robin and Marian” and the disastrous “Tarzan” with Bo Derek. Later he appeared in “Gladiator” and, finally, Dumbledore in the early Harry Potter movies.

Richard teamed up with Jimmy Webb and released 3 Webb written songs in 1968 and 1969, the aforementioned “McArthur Park”, “Didn’t We”, and “The Yard Went On Forever”. All 3 charted on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as the Adult Contemporary charts. I love “MacArthur Park’ but I love this just as much. The foreboding sense and imagery is amazing, and it has Jimmy Webb’s trademark dual melodies that offset each other perfectly.

Sir Richard, an Irishman, was dubbed a knight by the Queen of Denmark in 1985.