Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s “MacArthur Park” dance scene explains: What the song means

0
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s “MacArthur Park” dance scene explains: What the song means

Warning! This article contains major spoilers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!Tim Burton repeats the success of his iconic “Day-O” scene from the 1988 original movie with a “MacArthur Park” dance sequence in Beetlejuice 2Which carries a deeper meaning for Michael Keaton’s character. One of Tim Burton’s most memorable moments Beetlejuice is the “Day-O” possession scene, which sees recently deceased ghosts Adam and Barbara Maitland possessing the living Deetz family members and their Dinner guests dancing and singing along to Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” The deets are again possessed in singing and dancing Beetlejuice 2But this time to a different tune.

in Beetlejuice 2Eventually, the Deets gather at Winter River’s church for Lydia’s wedding to Rory, who Betelgeuse hijacks to marry Lydia himself. ensure their cooperation, Betelgeuse gets Astrid, Delia, Lydia and Rory to sing and dance with him to “Macarthur Park” by Richard Harris. The characters switch the performing to the tune, the wedding fitting with a massive cake, Lydia’s iconic red dress, and Betelgeuse’s red tuxedo. Of course, the song is interrupted when Wolf Jackson, his officer, and Delores rush in, fulfilling the meaning of “MacArthur Park”‘s lyrics as Lydia soon expels Betelgeuse back to the afterlife.

Beetlejuice 2’s “MacArthur Park” song is about the end of a love affair

The 1968 Richard Harris song laments a doomed romance

The lyrics of “Macarthur Park” in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Have a Deeper meaning about lamenting the end of a love affair. In the song lyrics written by Jimmy Webb, the narrator compares the romance ending to leaving “Cake out in the rain“, how the partners neglected their relationship and ruined it. Extending that metaphor, “‘Because it took so long to bake it / and I will never have this recipe again“is symbolic of the narrator being nervous about the breakup because of all the effort he put into the relationship, believing he’ll never find another love like it again.

Spring never waits for us, girl

It ran one step ahead

As we followed in the dance

Between the divided sides and was pressed

In love’s hot, feverish iron

Like a striped pair of pants

MacArthur’s Park was dissolved in the dark

All the sweet, green icing flowing down

Someone left the cake in the rain

I don’t think I can take it

Because it took so long to bake it

And I will never have that recipe again

Oh no!

I remember 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 people play checkers by the trees

MacArthur’s Park was dissolved in the dark

All the sweet, green icing flowing down

Someone left the cake in the rain

I don’t think I can take it

Because it took so long to bake it

And I will never have that recipe again

Oh no!

It will be another song for me

Because I will sing it

It will be another dream for me

Someone will bring it

I will drink this wine while it is warm

And never let you catch me looking at the sun

And after all the love of my life

After all the love of my life

You will still be the one

I will take my life in my hands and I will use it

I will gain the service in their eyes and I will lose it

I will have the things that I desire

And my passion flows like rivers through the sky

And after all the love of my life

Oh, after all the love of my life

I will think of you

And wondering why

MacArthur’s Park was dissolved in the dark

All the sweet, green icing flowing down

Someone left the cake in the rain

I don’t think I can take it

Because it took so long to bake it

And I will never have that recipe again

Oh no!

Oh no

No

Oh no!

However, the narrator’s perspective soon shifts to become more optimistic, which is when the classic song is on Beetlejuice 2s soundtrack adopts a more upbeat tone. The song says “There will be another song for me / For I will sing / There will be another dream for me / Someone will bring it“What indicates that he is eager to find someone new to love who will return his feelings – and maybe the romance will last. Still, the narrator in “MacArthur Park” ends the poem reminiscing about the love he lost and fears he won’t be able to recapture it.

Why Betelgeuse chose “MacArthur Park” for the wedding song – how it connects to his story


Winona Ryder as Lydia and Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse standing together in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

While Michael Keaton’s “Bio-exorcist“is a”Trickster demon” Revealed in the chaos he creates, he also shows a more sentimental side to his character when it comes to the woman he loves. Although his love for Lydia is an unhealthy, dangerous obsession, he sees it as showing his commitment to her while He is adamant that she is the love of his life. Like the narrator in “MacArthur Park,” Betelgeuse laments that he lost Lydia after the 1988 movie, determined to get her back and safeguard the delusional love He believes they share by finally getting married.

Related

The lyrics also relate to Beetlejuice 2s new character Delores, Betelgeuse’s ex-wife who was one of the “love of [his] Live“But he will”Always be thinking“From Lydia. Although he didn’t believe it, Betelgeuse’s “romance” with Lydia was doomed from the start; He believes it’s because he’s dead and she’s alive, but in fact she’s always been repulsed by the 700-year-old poltergeist. The Beetlejuice 2 The composition of the soundtrack song also carries modern tunes, classical elements and a pop style that give it the timeless, all-period encompassing nature that has come to define Betelgeuse itself.

Leave A Reply