'MacArthur Park'

[snopes]

The lyrics were deeply personal: "In mid-1965, I was absolutely besotted with my girlfriend at the time. MacArthur Park was where we met for lunch and paddleboat rides and feeding the ducks. She worked across the street at a life insurance company."

The breakup left Webb reeling, and writing. "I also wrote 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix' about her, but I never even got as far as Riverside. But I lost her. She married some other guy. We're still friends. Her name is Susan Ronstadt" (a cousin to singer Linda Ronstadt.)

"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. But people have very strong reactions to the song. There's been a lot of intellectual venom."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...,7177038.story