That’s right, boysengurls, another holiday has emerged from wherever holidays go where they’re not here – Des Moines, perhaps – and so we welcome it with open source and a glad bag, because it’s MacArthur Muzik Day, which means that we must work at least three quotes from the lyrics of Pop Muzik or MacArthur Park into our conversations today. Nor can we simply blurt them out – they must make at least some sense in the context of the conversation. If you get a strange look, you obviously didn’t try hard enough.
Should someone recognize the lyric that you used and remark on it, you are obligated to touch your finger gently to their nose tip, smile coquettishly, and say, “Ta, sir!” (even if it’s a woman.) Do not fail to do this, because if they realize you’ve neglected this response, they are allowed to dictate what you have for lunch for the next week; the grocery store won’t sell that many cans of Spaghetti-Os with Franks for the rest of the year.
Should someone respond with the lyrics that follow in the song you chose, you must both do the ostrich mating dance together for at least thirty seconds – sound effects are optional though. Don’t look at us like that – we didn’t make this stuff up.
And should the conversation go on as normal without any recognition of something amiss, you are encouraged to brag about it here, as long as you don’t get too cocky. Yes, that’s in the rules too.
To offer this gentle reminder (though we can’t imagine why you’d need it,) we provide the lyrics to the two songs for which the holiday is named:
MacArthur Park, by Richard Harris
Spring was never waiting for us, girl
It ran one step ahead
As we followed in the dance
Between the parted pages and were pressed
In love’s hot, fevered iron
Like a striped pair of pantsMacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again, oh noI recall the yellow cotton dress
Foaming like a wave
On the ground around your knees
The birds like tender babies in your hands
And the old men playing checkers
By the treesMacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again, oh noThere will be another song for me
For I will sing it
There will be another dream for me
Someone will bring it
I will drink the wine while it is warm
And never let you catch me
Looking at the sun
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
You’ll still be the oneI will take my life into my hands
And I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes
And I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow
Like rivers through the sky
And after all the loves of my life
Oh, after all the loves in my life
I’ll be thinking of you
And wondering whyMacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
(Oh no, oh no)
And:
Pop Muzik, by M
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Get up, get down
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)Radio, video
Boogie with a suitcase
You’re living in a disco
Forget about the rat race
Let’s do the Milkshake
Selling like a hotcake
Try some, buy some
Fee-fi-fo-fum
Talk about pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik(Shoobie-doobie-doo-wop)
I want to dedicate it
(Pop, pop, shoo-wop)
Everybody made it
(Shoobie-doobie-doo-wop)
Infiltrate it
(Pop, pop, shoo-wop)
Activate itNew York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)Sing it in the subway
Shuffle with a shoe shine
Mix me a Molotov
I’m on the headline
Want to be a gunslinger?
Don’t be a rock singer
Eenie, meenie, miney, mo
Which a-way you wanna go?
Talk about pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik(Shoobie-doobie-doo-wop)
Right in betweenie
(Pop, pop, shoo-wop)
Eenie, meenie
(Shoobie-doobie-doo-wop)
Right in betweenie
(Pop, pop, shoo-wop)
You know what I meanie
Hit it!Now you know when to say
(Talk about) Talk about pop muzik
(Talk about) Talk about pop muzik
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)All around the world
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Wherever you are
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Dance in the street, anything you like
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Do it in your car in the middle of the night
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
La-la-la-la, la-la, la-la, la
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
La-la-la-la, la-la, la
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
La-la-la-la, la-la, la-la, la
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
La-la-la-la, la-la, la
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)Dance in the supermart
Dig it in the fast lane
Listen to the countdown
They’re playing our song again
I can’t get “Jumping Jack”
I want to hold “Get Back”
Moonlight, muzak
Knick knack, paddy wack
Talk about pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik(Shoobie-doobie-doo-wop)
It’s all around you
(Pop, pop, shoo-wop)
They want to surround you
(Shoobie-doobie-doo-wop)
It’s all around you
(Pop, pop, shoo-wop)
Hit it!New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about, mmm, pop muzik
Talk about pop muzik
Talk about pop, pop muzik
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)Now, listen
Talk about (Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Talk about (Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Talk about the fever
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Do you read me? Loud and clear
Hit it down (Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Hit it down, oh no! (Pop, pop, pop muzik)
Oh no! Oh, talk about
(Pop, pop, pop muzik)
See? Shouldn’t be too hard, so jump in! We’re looking forward to hearing your accounts!