AUDIOJUNKIE: Summer song surge
Recently, Donna Summer made a big splash into pop culture’s collective awareness by surging atop the Billboard dance charts with her classic 1978 song titled “MacArthur's Park.” Summer, who passed away in 2012 at the ageof 63, is one of the original divas of the disco genre. She was a few shy of her 30th birthday when“MacArthur’s Park” first became a hit. But this was after a long slog for Donna Summer, who first played in Europeas a theatre singer-actor in the musical Hair, and then as a recording artist, where she had her first real break working with producers, including one named Giorgio Moroder.
Written by Jimmy Webb, “MacArthur’s Park” was a 1968 song recorded by the actor Richard Harris (who played Dumbledore) and was originally a ballad. Moroder turned the song on its head, so to speak, and was instrumental in making this into one of Donna Summer’s biggest hits.
Hearing the song has again emerged to the top of the dance charts, not more than a fortnight ago, just got me waxing a bit nostalgic. The first time I heard “MacArthur’s Park” was not through Donna Summer or Harris’ original, but through a local rock band.
Believe it or not, it was The Dawn that I first heard this peculiar tune. Peculiar, because when Jett Pangan sang it, it stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb, only because I was more attuned to Jett singing “Love Will Set You Free” and “I Stand With You” than this melodramatic dribble about ‘melting cakes out in the rain’ which, ‘I don’t think I can take it / because it took so long to make it / and I’ll never have that recipe again,’ etc.
There’s an inherent kitsch in it. It was there when The Dawn covered it as an overture in their epic “Dream Storm” concert (back in ‘88), and it was there when Donna Summer sang it.
But man, was it epic! Especially with Donna Summer’s voice singing the dramatic, lyrical soliloquy, it was raised to a grander scale. I didn’t know then that Giorgio Moroder produced this, but hearing it at the recent Winter Olympics, I can recognize some of Moroder’s touch in the production. After all, Moroder’s own 1984 hit “Together in Electric Dreams” is one of my all-time fave songs from that amazing year in pop.
From Richard Harris to Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder, to its recent resurgence thanks to the iconic Alysa Liu, “MacArthur’s Park” has had quite a 58-year journey.
Speaking of surges, the Viva Music Group is having a victory lap. The label is now behind the first two OPM songs to reach 500 million streams on Spotify in the Philippines.
“Tadhana” by Up Dharma Down is the first Filipino track to hit the half-a-billion milestone. Released in 2012, “Tadhana” is UDD’s most recognizable song in the alt-electronica band’s catalog. Viva Music Publishing manages UDD’s master recordings after Terno Records turned over its ownership.
And some bands have all the luck. Cup Of Joe now has the distinction of being the second act and the fastest to reach the 500 million mark for their song “Multo.” It is now the most-streamed OPM track in Spotify’s history and holds the longest number one streak on the platform’s Philippine Daily Charts. Maybe that’s why they’re all systems go in solo headlining the Philippine Sports Arena this coming May 23, 2026.