MacArthur BART (Filk)
To the tune of “MacArthur Park” with apologies to Jimmy Webb.
BART was never waiting for us, dear
We ran to catch the train
But we missed it, our last chance
MacArthur BART is frightening in the dark
All the lights they flicker on and off
Someone left their backpack on the train
I don’t think that I should take it
Might be full or drugs or makeup
Better leave it for someone else to find
Oh, no
I can still remember better days
The trains ran on time
Never missed a connection
The tracks, like gleaming rails to better lands
Our destinations only a few short stops away
MacArthur BART is frightening in the dark
Hey I think that guy just flipped me off
He looks like he’s lived through better days
And he might be a little dangerous
Might try to take our stuff and hang us
Better leave him and look the other way
Oh, no
MacArthur’s BART is melting in the dark
I think my acid finally hit
Can you see that time is stopping too?
Hey its really not so scary
It’s actually ordinary
It’s just a matter of your point of view
Oh, no, oh
This is not my best work, but I’ve been wanting to write this for a long time as an homage to BART and many days hanging out at MacArthur station waiting to make a transfer.
I struggled with this one a lot, and decided to use the shortened version of the lyrics based on the way Donna Summer covered it, but I definitely had the original Richard Harris version playing in my head.
I tried to get GPT to help me; it wasn’t able to and instead just kept giving me generic song lyrics about riding BART rather than something that was a parody of “MacArthur Park”. Guess that’s a feature we’ll have to wait for GPT4+.