MacArthur Park (song) - Donna Summer Version

Donna Summer Version

A multi-million selling vinyl single disco version of "MacArthur Park" by Donna Summer was number one on the American pop music sales charts for three weeks during 1978. Summer's recording, which was included as part of the "MacArthur Park Suite" on her double album Live and More, was eight minutes and forty seconds long on the album. The shorter seven-inch vinyl single version of the MacArthur Park was Summer's first single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100; it doesn't include the balladic second movement of the song, however.

The nearly 18-minute musical medley "MacArthur Park Suite" incorporated the songs "One of a Kind" and "Heaven Knows". This medley was also sold as a 12-inch (30 cm) vinyl recording, and it stayed at number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart for five weeks in 1978. The versions of this medley in Live and More and in the 12-inch recording are notably different in choices of the lengths of the slices of the two accompanying songs. In the 12-inch version, "Heaven Knows" was extended to incorporate the string introduction and the bridge horn solo of the single version for radio stations, and "One of a Kind" was trimmed of some percussion breaks.

"MacArthur Park Suite" was not included on the compact disc version of Live and More because of early CD limitations; however, the album version is available on 1987's The Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch Singles. The 12" Special One-Sided Disco DJ Single has been digitally remastered and included on the Bad Girls digipak double CD release.