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The Cake and the Rain
"Novelistic, perfectly plotted and quite possibly the best pop-star autobiography yet written." - The Wall Street Journal
Jimmy Webb’s words have been sung to his music by a rich and deep roster of pop artists, including Glen Campbell, Art Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Donna Summer and Linda Ronstadt. He’s the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration, and his chart-topping career has, so far, lasted fifty years, most recently with a Kanye West rap hit and a new classical nocturne.
Now, in his first memoir, Webb delivers a snapshot of his life from 1955 to 1970, from simple and sere Oklahoma to fast and fantastical Los Angeles, from the crucible of his family to the top of his longed-for profession.
Webb was a preacher’s son whose father climbed off a tractor to receive his epiphany, and Jimmy, barely out of his teen age years, sank down into the driver’s seat of a Cobra to speed to Las Vegas to meet with Elvis. Classics such as “Up, Up and Away”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Galveston”, “The Worst that Could Happen”, “All I Know”, and “MacArthur Park” were all recorded by some of the most important voices in pop before Webb’s twenty-fifth birthday: he thought it was easy.
The sixties were a supernova, and Webb was at their center, whipsawed from the proverbial humble beginnings into a moneyed and manic international world of beautiful women, drugs, cars and planes. That stew almost took him down—but Webb survived, his passion for music and work among his lifelines.
The Cake and The Rain is a surprising and unusual book: Webb’s talent as a writer and storyteller is here on every page. His book is rich with a sense of time and place, and with the voices of characters, vanished and living, famous and not, but all intimately involved with him in his youth, when life seemed nothing more than a party and Webb the eternal guest of honor.
Jimmy Webb’s words have been sung to his music by a rich and deep roster of pop artists, including Glen Campbell, Art Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Donna Summer and Linda Ronstadt. He’s the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration, and his chart-topping career has, so far, lasted fifty years, most recently with a Kanye West rap hit and a new classical nocturne.
Now, in his first memoir, Webb delivers a snapshot of his life from 1955 to 1970, from simple and sere Oklahoma to fast and fantastical Los Angeles, from the crucible of his family to the top of his longed-for profession.
Webb was a preacher’s son whose father climbed off a tractor to receive his epiphany, and Jimmy, barely out of his teen age years, sank down into the driver’s seat of a Cobra to speed to Las Vegas to meet with Elvis. Classics such as “Up, Up and Away”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Galveston”, “The Worst that Could Happen”, “All I Know”, and “MacArthur Park” were all recorded by some of the most important voices in pop before Webb’s twenty-fifth birthday: he thought it was easy.
The sixties were a supernova, and Webb was at their center, whipsawed from the proverbial humble beginnings into a moneyed and manic international world of beautiful women, drugs, cars and planes. That stew almost took him down—but Webb survived, his passion for music and work among his lifelines.
The Cake and The Rain is a surprising and unusual book: Webb’s talent as a writer and storyteller is here on every page. His book is rich with a sense of time and place, and with the voices of characters, vanished and living, famous and not, but all intimately involved with him in his youth, when life seemed nothing more than a party and Webb the eternal guest of honor.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published April 18, 2017
103 people are currently reading
598 people want to read
About the author
Jimmy Webb
40 books23 followersJIMMY WEBB, “America’s Songwriter”, is the author of the musician’s “bible”, TUNESMITH: INSIDE THE ART OF SONGWRITING. Webb’s songs with their complex chord structure have been recorded or performed by artists from Frank Sinatra to Carly Simon, to R.E.M. He tours extensively performing his own works and stories in the United States and around the world. He was the youngest man ever inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame and was named by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the top fifty songwriters of all time. A father of six and grandfather of one, Webb lives with his wife, Laura Savini, in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
May 17, 2017
I'm fascinated by the negative reviews of this book on Goodreads. I think Jimmy Webb is incredibly self aware of the ridiculousness of his ego and attitude in his younger years. I found The Cake and the Rain to be a great read, full of pretty outrageous stories and chock full of appearances by musicians like John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Joni Mitchell, and others. This book details how much damage cocaine did to the musicians (and music?) of the 1970s about as well as any I have read. I enjoyed reading about a young man coming into his own and struggling with the demons that presented themselves to him along the way. Highly recommended read.
May 15, 2017
You have no idea how much I wanted to love this book. Let's just say that Webb writes about himself with a pen filled with hubris. Man, what a jerk and an asshole. And he wrote this himself!!!!!????!!!!!!!!
Just don't even think about it. It deserves the total lack of interest he generated in his bloviated personal albums. Sure, he is/was anyway one of the great songwriters and arrangers of his generation, and believe me he will tell you over and over ad nauseam.
Just don't even think about it. It deserves the total lack of interest he generated in his bloviated personal albums. Sure, he is/was anyway one of the great songwriters and arrangers of his generation, and believe me he will tell you over and over ad nauseam.
May 7, 2018
A major disappointment. I have been a fan of Jimmy Webb's songwriting for decades, so I picked this book up expecting an interesting memoir about his years in the music business and friendships with everyone from Glen Campbell to Joni Mitchell. Instead, you get a poorly structured, overblown, whiny descent into "let me pretend to be humble but instead tell you how fantastic I am" autobiography that leaves you re-examining why you ever need to listen to a Jimmy Webb song again. What I hated the most is how he feels the need to soil the legacies of such friends as Harry Nilsson and John Lennon by only dwelling on their drug excesses.
Any book that ends with thirty or forty pages of documentation of every award he has won, every artist that has covered a Jimmy Webb song, and every artist that has covered MacArthur Park, should warn you what an incredible mess this book is. The only thing it is missing is a roster list of all the women he slept with and every sports car he bought (oh but wait, the book has dealt with that already.)
Be warned.
Any book that ends with thirty or forty pages of documentation of every award he has won, every artist that has covered a Jimmy Webb song, and every artist that has covered MacArthur Park, should warn you what an incredible mess this book is. The only thing it is missing is a roster list of all the women he slept with and every sports car he bought (oh but wait, the book has dealt with that already.)
Be warned.
July 18, 2017
Since so many of Webb's songs are compelling and even charming, I figured it would be hard to dislike him. That is, until I read this book.
Mondo disappointment.
Throughout, Webb comes off a petulant, perpetual juvenile; a sort-of "hip" uncle to today's entitlement-mentality Millennials. I was particularly discomfited by his blithe participation in all sorts of nefarious dealings, from repeatedly snaking married women from their husbands, to providing C-notes to Harry Nilsson and John Lennon, so that Lennon could, um, contribute them to a woman splayed on a kitchen table in a ratty LA apartment. Webb lived a self-inflicted seamy life, in diametric opposition to his often-lyrical, lovely musical output. The Devil to which he often refers well may be Webb himself.
His website touts Webb as "America's Songwriter." I would think that Woody Guthrie, Hoagy Carmichael, Merle Haggard, John Mellencamp, Dolly Parton and, of course, Bob Dylan might have something to say about that.
Speaking of Dylan, if you want to read an excellent, unusual, interesting memoir with heart and clear evidence of the artist's greatness, read his "Chronicles Vol. 1".
And leave Mr. Webb to memories of his disjointed, stoned-soul picnic.
Mondo disappointment.
Throughout, Webb comes off a petulant, perpetual juvenile; a sort-of "hip" uncle to today's entitlement-mentality Millennials. I was particularly discomfited by his blithe participation in all sorts of nefarious dealings, from repeatedly snaking married women from their husbands, to providing C-notes to Harry Nilsson and John Lennon, so that Lennon could, um, contribute them to a woman splayed on a kitchen table in a ratty LA apartment. Webb lived a self-inflicted seamy life, in diametric opposition to his often-lyrical, lovely musical output. The Devil to which he often refers well may be Webb himself.
His website touts Webb as "America's Songwriter." I would think that Woody Guthrie, Hoagy Carmichael, Merle Haggard, John Mellencamp, Dolly Parton and, of course, Bob Dylan might have something to say about that.
Speaking of Dylan, if you want to read an excellent, unusual, interesting memoir with heart and clear evidence of the artist's greatness, read his "Chronicles Vol. 1".
And leave Mr. Webb to memories of his disjointed, stoned-soul picnic.
May 20, 2017
I don't know whether it was the author or his editor who made this suggestion, but the decision to arrange this book according to an utterly fractured chronology seems to me like a colossal blunder.
At first I was intrigued - usually in this kind of memoir I find myself anxious to get past the author's childhood to the part of the story where he or she begins to make their mark on the world. So to be able to fast forward almost right out of the gate to the best part of Webb's songwriting career was a delight.
But within 50 pages I was lost, constantly toggling between different eras of Webb's career - first we're with him in high school, then suddenly he's already written the Glen Campbell songs, then we're back in his early 20s, then we're in his drug phase in the latter stages of his first fame, then we're back being introduced to his first girlfriend, and so on. I couldn't keep track of where I was, who the characters were, and with no continuity there was no real arc to follow. It's just a random series of anecdotes.
What's more, Webb routinely refers to an evidently real-life character in his life whom he calls "The Devil". He never explains why the pseudonym, and I spent the first half of the book thinking he was speaking of his conscience or some imaginary friend. He's never identified, and to be honest I'm not sure why the character is even in the book. I guess he was a bad influence on the protagonist?
And the list of writing credits at the end is ridiculous. Stuff he wrote? Yes, please. "List of Songs Which Mention Jimmy Webb"? COME now.
To me this book is a shame, because the author is clearly (and obviously) a talented writer and he has an evocative, very readable style. But there's a reason why we start stories at the beginning, then get to the middle, and then to the end. I found the structure of this book maddening.
At first I was intrigued - usually in this kind of memoir I find myself anxious to get past the author's childhood to the part of the story where he or she begins to make their mark on the world. So to be able to fast forward almost right out of the gate to the best part of Webb's songwriting career was a delight.
But within 50 pages I was lost, constantly toggling between different eras of Webb's career - first we're with him in high school, then suddenly he's already written the Glen Campbell songs, then we're back in his early 20s, then we're in his drug phase in the latter stages of his first fame, then we're back being introduced to his first girlfriend, and so on. I couldn't keep track of where I was, who the characters were, and with no continuity there was no real arc to follow. It's just a random series of anecdotes.
What's more, Webb routinely refers to an evidently real-life character in his life whom he calls "The Devil". He never explains why the pseudonym, and I spent the first half of the book thinking he was speaking of his conscience or some imaginary friend. He's never identified, and to be honest I'm not sure why the character is even in the book. I guess he was a bad influence on the protagonist?
And the list of writing credits at the end is ridiculous. Stuff he wrote? Yes, please. "List of Songs Which Mention Jimmy Webb"? COME now.
To me this book is a shame, because the author is clearly (and obviously) a talented writer and he has an evocative, very readable style. But there's a reason why we start stories at the beginning, then get to the middle, and then to the end. I found the structure of this book maddening.
July 22, 2017
Interesting but not that interesting.
September 1, 2017
Jimmy Webb’s autobiography is a strange entity within itself. Using an unorthodox device where he jumps back and forth from his childhood to his present (being 1968), you have a disjointed book that doesn’t quite work. You also have a book that is dealing with someone’s who is still very much alive but his story ends in 1973 which I feel if he brought it up to today, you may have a better resolution and understanding of the man.
The book seems to be read in one of two ways, you can read it straight forward and you will find a story of a man who is an egomaniac and very boastful. ~If you read it from a tongue in cheek aspect, you find yourself with an autobiography that is insightful who doesn’t take his life too serious. This sometimes create a problem within the text because we are dealing with a man who is an enormous talent and has come into a lot of success but at the same time we do get a rundown of his shrines, keyboards, homes, etc. which comes across as shallow. It felt like reading a book about MTV cribs at times.
I am huge fan of Jimmy Webb and I was turned onto his music from an Amy Grant album where she recorded ‘If These Walls Could Speak’. After hearing this song, I started buying anything with his name on it and have become a big fan since. Is music is deep, thought provoking, and heart felt. I am guessing that because of his music, I expected his autobiography to be the same. It is not.
After about three chapters, I put the book down and then waited a week and picked it back up and read it as a simple memoir of a person I knew nothing about. This was the turning point for me. I read it from a different perspective and started to enjoy this even more.
He is still boastful but from my understanding, he is writing this from the view point of the person he was at that time and with his rise to fame and success, large bankroll and everyone wanting to work with him, gave him a huge ego and I suspect this is the view point he used when writing this book. From this point of view, this is a solid autobiography.
The only downfall is that I would have liked the novel to move past 1973 to be developed into the person he has become today. I think that this would have given more insight of the person he was and the person he is which unfortunately is lacking in this book. He is very gifted but there is a lack of personal development within the pages.
If you want to have a glimpse of life from 1968 – 1973 and of a childhood that is post war middle America then this book has hit all the right spots. This is a winner of book overall but has to be read from the right perspective to have total fulfillment.
The book seems to be read in one of two ways, you can read it straight forward and you will find a story of a man who is an egomaniac and very boastful. ~If you read it from a tongue in cheek aspect, you find yourself with an autobiography that is insightful who doesn’t take his life too serious. This sometimes create a problem within the text because we are dealing with a man who is an enormous talent and has come into a lot of success but at the same time we do get a rundown of his shrines, keyboards, homes, etc. which comes across as shallow. It felt like reading a book about MTV cribs at times.
I am huge fan of Jimmy Webb and I was turned onto his music from an Amy Grant album where she recorded ‘If These Walls Could Speak’. After hearing this song, I started buying anything with his name on it and have become a big fan since. Is music is deep, thought provoking, and heart felt. I am guessing that because of his music, I expected his autobiography to be the same. It is not.
After about three chapters, I put the book down and then waited a week and picked it back up and read it as a simple memoir of a person I knew nothing about. This was the turning point for me. I read it from a different perspective and started to enjoy this even more.
He is still boastful but from my understanding, he is writing this from the view point of the person he was at that time and with his rise to fame and success, large bankroll and everyone wanting to work with him, gave him a huge ego and I suspect this is the view point he used when writing this book. From this point of view, this is a solid autobiography.
The only downfall is that I would have liked the novel to move past 1973 to be developed into the person he has become today. I think that this would have given more insight of the person he was and the person he is which unfortunately is lacking in this book. He is very gifted but there is a lack of personal development within the pages.
If you want to have a glimpse of life from 1968 – 1973 and of a childhood that is post war middle America then this book has hit all the right spots. This is a winner of book overall but has to be read from the right perspective to have total fulfillment.
February 24, 2018
I should have known that one of the greatest songwriters of all time would be able to tell a story, his story, without the use of music. He told the story of his life in a captivating manner and I felt like I was right there with him through all his ups and downs. I found the chronology of the book a little hard to follow at first, but once I got the hang of it I was all in. I've been a Jimmy Webb fan since I was a little kid listening to Glen Campbell and watching him play Jimmy's songs on the his show The Goodtime Hour, but I really didn't grasp the impact Jimmy had on the music world until I read this book.
June 20, 2025
Wasted. That's what Jimmy Webb was during the entirety of his teen and early adult years. He was constantly on drugs, though he claims that during the few days he wrote MacArthur Park he was totally sober. Right. But wasted also describes the missed opportunity to write a cohesive and up-to-date memoir (which for no reason ends in 1973, about 44 years before publication!). Three-fourths of this either makes no sense or is him bragging about the drugs he's doing. Truly a waste.
Webb is just as quirky on paper as he was in his songwriting and he's tough to figure out. The son of a Baptist minister, he has a playful innocence about him while talking about all the naughty things he does. No apologies, he almost brags about being in love with (and sleeping with) three women concurrently and inhaling huge amounts of drugs that almost killed him (which is how the book ends).
The problem is that Webb got famous very fast, very young. And he has lived off the reputation of being a musical genius for the past 50 years, yet his work for 40 of those years hasn't lived up to the hype. He wrote a few really great songs, mostly for Glen Campbell (By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Galveston, Wichita Lineman, Where's the Playground Susie), a standard (Didn't We), the best Art Garfunkel song ever (All I Know), and one bizarre classic (MacArthur Park, which was misnamed MacArthur's Park by Richard Harris). But those were all done in about a six-year period and since then he has done nothing significant other than remakes of his hits or scores for minor shows.
It is interesting hearing a bit about the origin of some of the songs, which mostly involve women he was in love with from a distance (MacArthur Park is all based on real park experiences with his lifelong love-that-got-away). But the excitement about his drug usage takes up many more pages than details about his music. He also brags about his support of liberal causes (since he was raised in a conservative Baptist home) but this guy is the poster boy for why elitist Democrats have no moral values or even common sense.
Why he stopped in 1973 and says he'll write another book is puzzling. There's nothing that compelling about this book. Stories about his encounters with Elvis, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, and sitting in with the Beatles are kind of interesting but lack enough detail to support this volume. It could have dropped all the descriptive excitement over taking illegal drugs, his love of cars and planes, and the constant pining over the same three women (Jimmy, it has been over 50 years wanting the MacArthur Park girl, give up on it!). So the book will leave you feel like you did the first time you heard Richard Harris sing Webb's song--totally baffled and wondering "what the F was that?."
Or maybe he left the rest of his story out in the rain with the cake.
Read in 2018 when I gave it three stars, reread in 2025 where I can't figure out why I originally halfway liked it!
Webb is just as quirky on paper as he was in his songwriting and he's tough to figure out. The son of a Baptist minister, he has a playful innocence about him while talking about all the naughty things he does. No apologies, he almost brags about being in love with (and sleeping with) three women concurrently and inhaling huge amounts of drugs that almost killed him (which is how the book ends).
The problem is that Webb got famous very fast, very young. And he has lived off the reputation of being a musical genius for the past 50 years, yet his work for 40 of those years hasn't lived up to the hype. He wrote a few really great songs, mostly for Glen Campbell (By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Galveston, Wichita Lineman, Where's the Playground Susie), a standard (Didn't We), the best Art Garfunkel song ever (All I Know), and one bizarre classic (MacArthur Park, which was misnamed MacArthur's Park by Richard Harris). But those were all done in about a six-year period and since then he has done nothing significant other than remakes of his hits or scores for minor shows.
It is interesting hearing a bit about the origin of some of the songs, which mostly involve women he was in love with from a distance (MacArthur Park is all based on real park experiences with his lifelong love-that-got-away). But the excitement about his drug usage takes up many more pages than details about his music. He also brags about his support of liberal causes (since he was raised in a conservative Baptist home) but this guy is the poster boy for why elitist Democrats have no moral values or even common sense.
Why he stopped in 1973 and says he'll write another book is puzzling. There's nothing that compelling about this book. Stories about his encounters with Elvis, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, and sitting in with the Beatles are kind of interesting but lack enough detail to support this volume. It could have dropped all the descriptive excitement over taking illegal drugs, his love of cars and planes, and the constant pining over the same three women (Jimmy, it has been over 50 years wanting the MacArthur Park girl, give up on it!). So the book will leave you feel like you did the first time you heard Richard Harris sing Webb's song--totally baffled and wondering "what the F was that?."
Or maybe he left the rest of his story out in the rain with the cake.
Read in 2018 when I gave it three stars, reread in 2025 where I can't figure out why I originally halfway liked it!
August 9, 2021
I knew Jimmy Webb would have a story and I guessed there’d be nobody better to tell it than him
Legends pass through his life - some like him, some obviously don’t. And he’s ok with that.
He highlights his triumphs but doesn’t gloss over his mistakes
This is as good an autobiography as I’ve read
Legends pass through his life - some like him, some obviously don’t. And he’s ok with that.
He highlights his triumphs but doesn’t gloss over his mistakes
This is as good an autobiography as I’ve read
July 14, 2017
I don't believe I have given a book one star. Usually I can give two stars for effort. Obviously someone took Jimmy's notes, transcribed them and tried to make a coherent autobiography/memoir. Failure. In an attempt to add texture to a visit to San Francisco to work with Art Garfunkel, we learn that the day was a "symphony of white clouds..." and "the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito, Pacific Heights and Coit Tower loomed". Really? "loomed"? In Galveston to be Grand Marshall of a parade, we learn Galveston was famous for surviving Issac's Storm. I assume what is meant is that the island was destroyed by the 1900 hurricane rather than it being destroyed by a barrage of books by Erik Larson.
There its absolutely no reflection or do we learn how Jimmy felt about anything except for a few comments about how cool everything was.
Although Jimmy was living with Suzy Horton he was also dating Rosemarie Frankland and Edie Bricusse but never do we get any reflection on how he felt about his juggling act with these women.
Finally the continuity (or lack of) is disturbing. One one page he breaks up with Rosemarie and a few pages later (same year) he is with her again!
When I picked up this book I had just finished "Barbarian Days..." by William Finnegan and the James McBride's "Kill 'em and Leave", two brilliant and beautifully written books also by and about contemporaries of Jimmy Webb. These put "The Cake and the Rain" to shame.
There its absolutely no reflection or do we learn how Jimmy felt about anything except for a few comments about how cool everything was.
Although Jimmy was living with Suzy Horton he was also dating Rosemarie Frankland and Edie Bricusse but never do we get any reflection on how he felt about his juggling act with these women.
Finally the continuity (or lack of) is disturbing. One one page he breaks up with Rosemarie and a few pages later (same year) he is with her again!
When I picked up this book I had just finished "Barbarian Days..." by William Finnegan and the James McBride's "Kill 'em and Leave", two brilliant and beautifully written books also by and about contemporaries of Jimmy Webb. These put "The Cake and the Rain" to shame.
May 3, 2017
I wonder why I bother to read musician autobiographies. (Anka, Bacharach, Love, Wilson) proved to be so obnoxious that I left each book puzzled as to how such awful people could write such beautiful music. I was hoping that this would be better but in its defense it is trying to honestly portray how out of control his life was. That he does very well. Convincing me to care about him instead of having utter contempt is another issue, and one he fails miserably at. This is such a contemptuous ride; I can't remember a more depressing reading experience.
September 1, 2017
I respect Jimmy Webb's work enormously and hoped to like this book more than I did. It's a fairly decent memoir in places but overall it lacks much coherence, I think.
The Cake And The Rain covers Webb's life from childhood in an agaraian environment with a pastor father who insisted on moving the family around very frequently, through his period of colossal wealth and fame to the point in 1973 where he took a drug overdose, almost died and lost the ability to create music for a time. To his credit Webb is honest and forthright not only about his ability, but also about his mistakes, his young man's hubris and so on, and the book gives a decent picture of the time.
The story is, I'm afraid, told in a fractured timescale, with childhood and adolescent episodes intercut with Webb at the height of his fame in the late 60s and early 70s. Frankly, it's an annoying structure which does nothing to help the book. There are some great stories and some very tedious ones, too. Meeting Elvis and Joni Mitchell? I certainly want to hear about that. Long tales and descriptions of over-flashy cars? Not so much. I also think that Webb is a very fine songwriter, but often pretty over-the-top in his prose. Writing of the start of 1970, for example, he says "Now, the seventies waited for the swift hand of fate to write what wonders or horrors?" A little of that goes a very long way with me, and it's often a great deal too rich for my taste.
So…worth a read if you're interested in the times and their music, but it's somewhat heavy going and I can only give this a qualified recommendation.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
The Cake And The Rain covers Webb's life from childhood in an agaraian environment with a pastor father who insisted on moving the family around very frequently, through his period of colossal wealth and fame to the point in 1973 where he took a drug overdose, almost died and lost the ability to create music for a time. To his credit Webb is honest and forthright not only about his ability, but also about his mistakes, his young man's hubris and so on, and the book gives a decent picture of the time.
The story is, I'm afraid, told in a fractured timescale, with childhood and adolescent episodes intercut with Webb at the height of his fame in the late 60s and early 70s. Frankly, it's an annoying structure which does nothing to help the book. There are some great stories and some very tedious ones, too. Meeting Elvis and Joni Mitchell? I certainly want to hear about that. Long tales and descriptions of over-flashy cars? Not so much. I also think that Webb is a very fine songwriter, but often pretty over-the-top in his prose. Writing of the start of 1970, for example, he says "Now, the seventies waited for the swift hand of fate to write what wonders or horrors?" A little of that goes a very long way with me, and it's often a great deal too rich for my taste.
So…worth a read if you're interested in the times and their music, but it's somewhat heavy going and I can only give this a qualified recommendation.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
September 11, 2017
Jimmy Webb is one of my favorite songwriters, unabashedly pop but with a sensitivity in his lyrics and sophistication in his melodies that places him head and shoulders above most of the rest. His best songs also demonstrate what a good storyteller he is, and that skill is on display here. The book is full of gossipy tales and celebrity anecdotes, all very well told, but the structure of the book, jumping back and forth between different periods of his life, seems designed to obscure the truth as much as to reveal. As the title implies, or teases, he does provide as much an explanation as we are likely to get concerning the origins of "MacArthur Park." But especially in that chapter and in some of the candid, even raw, personal confessions, I still found myself asking, "Jimmy, what on earth were you thinking?"
Addendum: I do admire Mr. Webb's unapologetic pride in "MacArthur Park," his most maligned song (Richard Goldstein, I'm talking to you). In fairness to Richard Goldstein, though, he was right! Richard Harris's interpretation was bloated, lachrymose, and grandiose. But when Donna Summer injected the fun and the humor that her gay audience needed for a dance hit, suddenly it became the greatest pop song ever written. And lost none of the feeling and poetry. Be proud, Jimmy.
p.s. John Lennon fans, don't read this book.
Addendum: I do admire Mr. Webb's unapologetic pride in "MacArthur Park," his most maligned song (Richard Goldstein, I'm talking to you). In fairness to Richard Goldstein, though, he was right! Richard Harris's interpretation was bloated, lachrymose, and grandiose. But when Donna Summer injected the fun and the humor that her gay audience needed for a dance hit, suddenly it became the greatest pop song ever written. And lost none of the feeling and poetry. Be proud, Jimmy.
p.s. John Lennon fans, don't read this book.
October 19, 2024
Although written in 2017, I only became aware of this book after having heard an interview on Sirius radio with the author in 2024. I’ve been a fan of Webb’s music since “MacArthur Park” but had no real knowledge of his life or just how many songs he had written.
Unfortunately, his talent as a composer was overshadowed by his admitted love of cocaine in particular and nearly was his end. He made lots of money young and spent it lavishly on homes, planes, cars, women, and drugs.
Several reviewers complained about the structure of the book, switching from time period to time period however I didn’t find it at all distracting as it is an oft used format employed by several authors I have read. Others felt he was “name dropping” as there are many famous people one would be familiar with, however, this was the world in which Webb lived; these were people he worked with so would naturally be mentioned. I for one didn’t find it unusual.
My only “complaint” would be that this is far from a current autobiography as it abruptly ends and mentions neither his marriage(s) or his children. So a second book is teed up.
Unfortunately, his talent as a composer was overshadowed by his admitted love of cocaine in particular and nearly was his end. He made lots of money young and spent it lavishly on homes, planes, cars, women, and drugs.
Several reviewers complained about the structure of the book, switching from time period to time period however I didn’t find it at all distracting as it is an oft used format employed by several authors I have read. Others felt he was “name dropping” as there are many famous people one would be familiar with, however, this was the world in which Webb lived; these were people he worked with so would naturally be mentioned. I for one didn’t find it unusual.
My only “complaint” would be that this is far from a current autobiography as it abruptly ends and mentions neither his marriage(s) or his children. So a second book is teed up.
August 16, 2017
I was sent The Cake and The Rain by Jimmy Webb by NetGalley to read and review.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I do not often read autobiographies, I usually find them a bit dry and prefer to have a story to get engrossed in with a novel. However, this book is an exception as it had plenty to keep me wanting to read more.
The Cake and The Rain is a memoir by songwriter and composer Jimmy Webb and I was initially drawn to the book by its title which refers to a line in the Iconic 1960s song MacArthur Park, along with its perfectly simple cover which is an evocative photograph of the author from that time. I think one of the things that increased my enjoyment of this read is that being of a certain age I remember many of the songs, artists and occasions mentioned therein.
The book has two threads running within it charting both Jimmy Webb’s formative years and his rise to fame in the music industry. I found that the way the two wove together worked very well with the former almost catching up with the latter towards the end of the book.
There are plenty of Iconic names to be had within the memoir including Richard Harris, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Glen Campbell, Joni Mitchell and even Elvis. The escapades (I can’t quite bring myself to call them anything else!) that Jimmy Webb and his friends sometimes get involved in are quite incredible and the story of the development of the music industry at that time, for me, is really interesting. I can’t wait until the next instalment.
If you have an interest in music, the 1960s, or both, then this is a definite ‘must read’ for you!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I do not often read autobiographies, I usually find them a bit dry and prefer to have a story to get engrossed in with a novel. However, this book is an exception as it had plenty to keep me wanting to read more.
The Cake and The Rain is a memoir by songwriter and composer Jimmy Webb and I was initially drawn to the book by its title which refers to a line in the Iconic 1960s song MacArthur Park, along with its perfectly simple cover which is an evocative photograph of the author from that time. I think one of the things that increased my enjoyment of this read is that being of a certain age I remember many of the songs, artists and occasions mentioned therein.
The book has two threads running within it charting both Jimmy Webb’s formative years and his rise to fame in the music industry. I found that the way the two wove together worked very well with the former almost catching up with the latter towards the end of the book.
There are plenty of Iconic names to be had within the memoir including Richard Harris, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Glen Campbell, Joni Mitchell and even Elvis. The escapades (I can’t quite bring myself to call them anything else!) that Jimmy Webb and his friends sometimes get involved in are quite incredible and the story of the development of the music industry at that time, for me, is really interesting. I can’t wait until the next instalment.
If you have an interest in music, the 1960s, or both, then this is a definite ‘must read’ for you!
June 11, 2017
The Cake and The Rain
A Memoir By Jimmy Webb
I was more interested in the subject and the exciting career he must have had before I read this book. I guess I was hoping for more in-depth, human interest stories, or just a more personal feeling. He doesn't really come through with that.
The book has a disjointed, hop back and forth through time, jauntiness about it. Chapters have dated subsections of a couple pages or so each. “1966” “1970”, etc. I think he would have been better off just going linear. The result is the impression of not following through whatever emotions the Jimmy Webb character is going through during any episode. It is hard to get involved with the feeling of empathy for Jimmy Webb as he presents himself here.
The man gets a lot, quite soon. He is wealthy just after his teen years. There is a lot of money in having written and orchestrated big hit pop recordings in the mid to late 1960s.
But given that he is a songwriter I expected to get more from the book than rather surface stories of the people he hung out with and the fancy cars and cool glider soar planes he got. He never really tells us how he feels about things. I guess he is just not the philosophical type.
There are stories, information, but not a lot by any stretch, of the business of being a major hit songwriter in the 60s-70s. He is contracted to Johnny Rivers for 7 years but his work was taking off and wanted to be on his own. So a business guy working for Rivers, the man whose job it was to tell him that it was time to sign the option for the next few months or the whole thing would be over and Jimmy free, conspired with Jimmy Webb to get him out of the contract. This is what happened and apparently they have not spoken since. It does seems quite underhanded. Johnny Rivers was a big star in the mid-1960s although one would hardly know that now. Then he got more into the business end of things with a record company that put out Up, Up, and Away, the 5Th Dimension mega hit written by his contract songwriter Webb.
So Webb split and was successful. He got really rich and bought a high powered REAL sports car a Shelby Cobra. There are some mishaps and stories with the car. I'm like, “OK, rich First World People's Problems.”
He takes a lot of cocaine. There is a lot of cocaine in the book, and cocaine with other stars. Harry Nilsson is in more of the cocaine stories than anyone else. He was an excessive coke partner. Rock star cocaine stories are not very interesting. They usually involve spending a lot of money, trying to get more cocaine and being nasty to someone along the way.
There is a scene at the end of the book, it is 1973. Jimmy and Harry are at a party. Harry has this stuff. Does a bunch of it, Jimmy thinks it looks funny but does a bunch which ended up being PCP and really messing him up for awhile because it was a large overdose. He can’t play the piano. Then he finally remembers he can play Amazing Grace on the piano. The end. This is not a particularly compelling drug story. Does Amazing Grace mean he is returning to the faith of his father? His dad was a Baptist preacher for a time. To me that is not exactly revealing of anything very deeply discovered in his drug adventures. More a frightened retreat, but maybe that is all that is available in the Rock Star Excessive Cocaine cliche experience.
He doesn't tell us what happened to Harry that night, but we know that Nilsson didn’t live to be old and his career went downhill before that around the time of all this cocaine and partying with John Lennon who had separated from Yoko for a spell and had this notorious LA binge with Harry.
Jimmy Webb doesn’t tell us if he stopped taking drugs or if he only took them while singing Amazing Grace after the PCP thing. And the whole book stops in 1973. That's a really long time ago.
Anyway, it is a rather disappointing book, but it has large print and one can zip through it rapidly if curious.
There are a couple or three women who come and go in his life here up until 1973, but they are never really fleshed out as characters, we don’t get to know them at all.
There is a character called The Devil, who was a powerful radio DJ on the mid-60s and then became a pal, or hanger on, or business associate with Webb. He is the guy who suggests that Webb writer a song about a hot air balloon. They have a falling out over a woman. We never are told who The Devil is or why we are not being told. Why not just tell us? Did The Devil threaten to sue? It’s not like the betrayal over the woman story is that bad and it was many decades ago.
I think he is frustrated that he never got to be a revered singer/songwriter recording artist like Carol King of Joni Mitchell. He keep trying to make these grandly produced LPs but the sales are poor, so that type of stardom doesn’t really happen.
A Memoir By Jimmy Webb
I was more interested in the subject and the exciting career he must have had before I read this book. I guess I was hoping for more in-depth, human interest stories, or just a more personal feeling. He doesn't really come through with that.
The book has a disjointed, hop back and forth through time, jauntiness about it. Chapters have dated subsections of a couple pages or so each. “1966” “1970”, etc. I think he would have been better off just going linear. The result is the impression of not following through whatever emotions the Jimmy Webb character is going through during any episode. It is hard to get involved with the feeling of empathy for Jimmy Webb as he presents himself here.
The man gets a lot, quite soon. He is wealthy just after his teen years. There is a lot of money in having written and orchestrated big hit pop recordings in the mid to late 1960s.
But given that he is a songwriter I expected to get more from the book than rather surface stories of the people he hung out with and the fancy cars and cool glider soar planes he got. He never really tells us how he feels about things. I guess he is just not the philosophical type.
There are stories, information, but not a lot by any stretch, of the business of being a major hit songwriter in the 60s-70s. He is contracted to Johnny Rivers for 7 years but his work was taking off and wanted to be on his own. So a business guy working for Rivers, the man whose job it was to tell him that it was time to sign the option for the next few months or the whole thing would be over and Jimmy free, conspired with Jimmy Webb to get him out of the contract. This is what happened and apparently they have not spoken since. It does seems quite underhanded. Johnny Rivers was a big star in the mid-1960s although one would hardly know that now. Then he got more into the business end of things with a record company that put out Up, Up, and Away, the 5Th Dimension mega hit written by his contract songwriter Webb.
So Webb split and was successful. He got really rich and bought a high powered REAL sports car a Shelby Cobra. There are some mishaps and stories with the car. I'm like, “OK, rich First World People's Problems.”
He takes a lot of cocaine. There is a lot of cocaine in the book, and cocaine with other stars. Harry Nilsson is in more of the cocaine stories than anyone else. He was an excessive coke partner. Rock star cocaine stories are not very interesting. They usually involve spending a lot of money, trying to get more cocaine and being nasty to someone along the way.
There is a scene at the end of the book, it is 1973. Jimmy and Harry are at a party. Harry has this stuff. Does a bunch of it, Jimmy thinks it looks funny but does a bunch which ended up being PCP and really messing him up for awhile because it was a large overdose. He can’t play the piano. Then he finally remembers he can play Amazing Grace on the piano. The end. This is not a particularly compelling drug story. Does Amazing Grace mean he is returning to the faith of his father? His dad was a Baptist preacher for a time. To me that is not exactly revealing of anything very deeply discovered in his drug adventures. More a frightened retreat, but maybe that is all that is available in the Rock Star Excessive Cocaine cliche experience.
He doesn't tell us what happened to Harry that night, but we know that Nilsson didn’t live to be old and his career went downhill before that around the time of all this cocaine and partying with John Lennon who had separated from Yoko for a spell and had this notorious LA binge with Harry.
Jimmy Webb doesn’t tell us if he stopped taking drugs or if he only took them while singing Amazing Grace after the PCP thing. And the whole book stops in 1973. That's a really long time ago.
Anyway, it is a rather disappointing book, but it has large print and one can zip through it rapidly if curious.
There are a couple or three women who come and go in his life here up until 1973, but they are never really fleshed out as characters, we don’t get to know them at all.
There is a character called The Devil, who was a powerful radio DJ on the mid-60s and then became a pal, or hanger on, or business associate with Webb. He is the guy who suggests that Webb writer a song about a hot air balloon. They have a falling out over a woman. We never are told who The Devil is or why we are not being told. Why not just tell us? Did The Devil threaten to sue? It’s not like the betrayal over the woman story is that bad and it was many decades ago.
I think he is frustrated that he never got to be a revered singer/songwriter recording artist like Carol King of Joni Mitchell. He keep trying to make these grandly produced LPs but the sales are poor, so that type of stardom doesn’t really happen.
April 16, 2017
One of your more creative music memoirs: it moves forward along two tracks, one starting with Webb's birth in 1946 and the other starting with his transition, from 1969 on, from songwriter to singer-songwriter. As Webb has a previous book devoted to the craft of songwriting, this book doesn't have a lot of nitty-gritty details along that line, but if you're looking for crazy stories about the life of a celebrity songwriter at the dawn of the Me Decade, The Cake and the Rain is for you. I reviewed this book for The Current.
December 11, 2021
I've never been that impressed by the talent required to write lyrics, so I went into this with a somewhat jaundiced eye about Webb's status as someone of significance. There are some fun name-dropping moments, but what a sloppy, disjointed, self-serving book...note the stupendous backnotes listing his songwriting credits/awards et al. He actually devoted a paragraph detailing how he shaved his beard -- in what was precisely the same way anyone would shave a beard. He's just another moderately talented person who was in the right place at the right time -- good for him.
October 29, 2017
When I first started reading Jimmy Webb’s memoir, I was so thrilled to have a copy of it. By the time I had reached page 50, I was so bored with it. While there are some sections on Mr. Webb’s childhood and teen years, which often seem to concentrate on being bullied or abused in some way or another, the book mostly focuses on his life in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and on the entire music scene of that time period. He had money to burn, cars, drugs, and girlfriends who were married to someone else. If you like reading about that type of lifestyle, you may indeed enjoy this book. Keep in mind, though, that the drug-sex-music industry stories of that time period all seem to sound alike. Being a well-known, prolific songwriter doesn't make Jimmy Webb's memories seem any more special.
He does talk a lot about his music, but not in a way that would do any good for aspiring songwriters looking for pointers or inspiration; or for someone wanting a deeper look at why Mr. Webb wrote certain songs. So, if you fall into those two categories, this memoir may disappoint you. (Try instead his book Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting). Those who are highly interested in reading about a lot of other famous singers, songwriters and musicians, though, should be happy. Included are Glen Campbell, Richard Harris, Joni Mitchell, the Fifth Dimension, Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, John Lennon, Johnny Rivers, Elvis, Frank Sinatra and many more. Most of his negative opinions about others are directed towards the non-artists in the music industry, as well as his friends and acquaintances.
For me, sadly nothing in this memoir seemed that interesting, even though I’ve known the name Jimmy Webb since I was a child; and am a huge fan of many of his songs, plus countless other songs of the time period when he was most prolific. That’s often the way it is, however, with those in the music field--they are great to listen to and lousy to read about. Nevertheless, I’m sure everyone does not feel that way, and there is an anxious audience out there for this book. Included are 22 pictures; a list of Mr. Webb’s songs that made the Top 100 charts; a list of awards he has received; a “partial list” of artists who have recorded his songs; a “partial list” of artists who have recorded MacArthur Park; a list of all his songs and albums; and a list of songs about him.
P.S. For a great album where Jimmy Webb talks about some of his songs and Glen Campbell sings them, listen to the album In Session by Glen Campbell And Jimmy Webb. It has an absolute glorious slower version of Galveston on it.
(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)
He does talk a lot about his music, but not in a way that would do any good for aspiring songwriters looking for pointers or inspiration; or for someone wanting a deeper look at why Mr. Webb wrote certain songs. So, if you fall into those two categories, this memoir may disappoint you. (Try instead his book Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting). Those who are highly interested in reading about a lot of other famous singers, songwriters and musicians, though, should be happy. Included are Glen Campbell, Richard Harris, Joni Mitchell, the Fifth Dimension, Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, John Lennon, Johnny Rivers, Elvis, Frank Sinatra and many more. Most of his negative opinions about others are directed towards the non-artists in the music industry, as well as his friends and acquaintances.
For me, sadly nothing in this memoir seemed that interesting, even though I’ve known the name Jimmy Webb since I was a child; and am a huge fan of many of his songs, plus countless other songs of the time period when he was most prolific. That’s often the way it is, however, with those in the music field--they are great to listen to and lousy to read about. Nevertheless, I’m sure everyone does not feel that way, and there is an anxious audience out there for this book. Included are 22 pictures; a list of Mr. Webb’s songs that made the Top 100 charts; a list of awards he has received; a “partial list” of artists who have recorded his songs; a “partial list” of artists who have recorded MacArthur Park; a list of all his songs and albums; and a list of songs about him.
P.S. For a great album where Jimmy Webb talks about some of his songs and Glen Campbell sings them, listen to the album In Session by Glen Campbell And Jimmy Webb. It has an absolute glorious slower version of Galveston on it.
(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)
January 1, 2018
There are several people in the pop pantheon for whom I can say I have held a life-long under-appreciation. Webb is among them, although his 'memoir' makes plain that he has not wanted for the accolades of the world.
His is a remarkable story of the development of an unusual talent for blending musical traditions. There is much excitement in his early affiliations, but there are big, big parts left out, such as, how did the son of a Dust Bowl preacher: charm and good looks, to be sure, but it is not as if these are in short supply in show business. So that gap had and has my curiosity piqued and unsatisfied.
Notwithstanding this shortcoming, there are some reminiscences of the music industry in the late 1960's and early 1970's that are well worth reviewing. And there is romance and drama! And there is, de rigueur, an account of the destruction wrought by drug culture, in the vortex of which rockers on top of the world abetted the destruction of one who ought to have been. (John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, the latter of whom never recovered fully from his encounter with his rock father figure.) There are also anecdotes about the Wrecking Crew and a catalog of Glen Campbell's accomplishments, although little of the man himself, while at the same time a surprising portrait of Bill Medley is offered.
Notwithstanding that this is a sixties epic, it is remarkably (and refreshingly!) dirt-free. This is a welcome change and one may hope it is attributable to some authorial control, which seems remarkably absent in the endless third party accounts of sixties figures that seem to compete for Most New Sexual Banality Unearthed.
Webb truncates the memoir at a critical juncture in the early 1970s. One may anticipate additional material in the future. In any event, stopping one's memoir more than forty years ago leaves the reader eager for more.
His is a remarkable story of the development of an unusual talent for blending musical traditions. There is much excitement in his early affiliations, but there are big, big parts left out, such as, how did the son of a Dust Bowl preacher: charm and good looks, to be sure, but it is not as if these are in short supply in show business. So that gap had and has my curiosity piqued and unsatisfied.
Notwithstanding this shortcoming, there are some reminiscences of the music industry in the late 1960's and early 1970's that are well worth reviewing. And there is romance and drama! And there is, de rigueur, an account of the destruction wrought by drug culture, in the vortex of which rockers on top of the world abetted the destruction of one who ought to have been. (John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, the latter of whom never recovered fully from his encounter with his rock father figure.) There are also anecdotes about the Wrecking Crew and a catalog of Glen Campbell's accomplishments, although little of the man himself, while at the same time a surprising portrait of Bill Medley is offered.
Notwithstanding that this is a sixties epic, it is remarkably (and refreshingly!) dirt-free. This is a welcome change and one may hope it is attributable to some authorial control, which seems remarkably absent in the endless third party accounts of sixties figures that seem to compete for Most New Sexual Banality Unearthed.
Webb truncates the memoir at a critical juncture in the early 1970s. One may anticipate additional material in the future. In any event, stopping one's memoir more than forty years ago leaves the reader eager for more.
May 19, 2019
The Best Autobiography
This is a wonderful read for anyone who was alive and cognizant during the 60-80’s. It’s expansive in its coverage of the stories of his intimate involvement in the success of many of the biggest names in music in those decades, including wonderful insights about Frank (Mr.) Sinatra, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, Glen Campbell, Richard Harris, The Fifth Dimension, Linda Ronstadt and many more.
This man went from rags to immeasurable riches as a writer and performer and despite his humble origins in Oklahoma as a preacher’s kid, he tasted all of the good and bad that life generously offered him. His love life most often ended in disappointment, and his biggest hits reflected those difficult times in his life. MacArthur Park, By the time I get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, Honey Come Back, Didn’t We?, All I Know and the happy Up,Up and Away, to name just a few.
He’s fortunate to still be alive and performing given his drug and alcohol proclivities of several decades.
He wrote hundreds of songs, produced music for great stars, won ever award imaginable, and lived in the fast lane...and lived to tell about all of it.
It’s beautifully written, humorous, historical and insightful. (His brilliant use of metaphors alone is enough to recommend this book!) Take the time for this great work. I loved all of it. And yes, I couldn’t put it down!
This is a wonderful read for anyone who was alive and cognizant during the 60-80’s. It’s expansive in its coverage of the stories of his intimate involvement in the success of many of the biggest names in music in those decades, including wonderful insights about Frank (Mr.) Sinatra, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, Glen Campbell, Richard Harris, The Fifth Dimension, Linda Ronstadt and many more.
This man went from rags to immeasurable riches as a writer and performer and despite his humble origins in Oklahoma as a preacher’s kid, he tasted all of the good and bad that life generously offered him. His love life most often ended in disappointment, and his biggest hits reflected those difficult times in his life. MacArthur Park, By the time I get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, Honey Come Back, Didn’t We?, All I Know and the happy Up,Up and Away, to name just a few.
He’s fortunate to still be alive and performing given his drug and alcohol proclivities of several decades.
He wrote hundreds of songs, produced music for great stars, won ever award imaginable, and lived in the fast lane...and lived to tell about all of it.
It’s beautifully written, humorous, historical and insightful. (His brilliant use of metaphors alone is enough to recommend this book!) Take the time for this great work. I loved all of it. And yes, I couldn’t put it down!
November 12, 2017
To be honest, the reason I picked up this book is because of my love for Glen Campbell. Without the songs of Jimmy Webb, I don't believe Glen's fame and talent would have reached the heights it did. I was looking to learn more about their relationship, but unbelievably Glen is hardly even mentioned.
What this reader learned was the huge train wreck Jimmy Webb's life was. I realize it was almost impossible to live through the 60s and 70s and not experience drugs, parties, and chaos. But usually there is a point of redemption- one where the writer expresses regret and comes out on the other side saying so and turning their lives around. I did not hear any of this in Jimmy's memoir. In fact, we don't read anything about his life beyond the 1970's. Sometimes you are better off not knowing the details of the lives of people you admire- this is one of those instances. I was extremely disappointed with this book. I rarely give any book 1 star, but this one left me with no choice.
In my view, Jimmy Webb's only redeeming qualities are his exceptional songwriting talents and his contribution to Glen's career. I wanted to root for him, but without any sense of regret in his life, there was nothing to root for.
What this reader learned was the huge train wreck Jimmy Webb's life was. I realize it was almost impossible to live through the 60s and 70s and not experience drugs, parties, and chaos. But usually there is a point of redemption- one where the writer expresses regret and comes out on the other side saying so and turning their lives around. I did not hear any of this in Jimmy's memoir. In fact, we don't read anything about his life beyond the 1970's. Sometimes you are better off not knowing the details of the lives of people you admire- this is one of those instances. I was extremely disappointed with this book. I rarely give any book 1 star, but this one left me with no choice.
In my view, Jimmy Webb's only redeeming qualities are his exceptional songwriting talents and his contribution to Glen's career. I wanted to root for him, but without any sense of regret in his life, there was nothing to root for.
September 3, 2024
Jimmy Webb, the prolific and talented songwriter, recalls crazy and wild times in this memoir. The Oklahoma-born musician, the son of a Baptist preacher, tells of his upbringing, moving from town to town as his father pastored different churches. During these difficult times in the 1950s and '60s, he displayed a keen sense of musical talent as he composed songs for his girlfriends. It was in the '60s that he wrote such memorable songs as "MacArthur Park," "Wichita Lineman," and "Up, Up, and Away." His songs were recorded by such luminaries as Richard Harris, Glen Campbell, Frank Sinatra, Art Garfunkel, the Fifth Dimension, and many more. He was a hot commodity in the music world as performers sought him for songs. Webb also encountered drugs and booze along the way, which upon reflection, nearly derailed his career. He has stories about John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Harris, Harry Nilsson, Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Hal Blaine, and other performers. It's an eye-opener as Webb writes about lost loves, disappointments, good times, and bad times during his most productive years. It almost makes one wonder how he survived those times.
December 8, 2017
I do like one or two celebrity memoirs per year and this was a decent one. The fractured chronology made it a little tricky to read although it's fairly well written, if a little purple in places. His childhood was the most interesting bit - his parents were very young when they married and once his father found Jesus in a big way, moved the family from place to place as an itinerant preacher. With the amount of drug use, I'm surprised if Webb remembers anything from the festival at Monterey (his recounting of the festival trotted out a bunch of cliches) and I lost track of what girl he was in love with when. I don't know what it says about me that my favorite parts were about the unhealthy rat pack he formed with Harry Nillsson. John Lennon comes off as an ass and there's way less Glen Campbell than you'd think.
I still think MacArthur Park is a really weird song.
I still think MacArthur Park is a really weird song.
July 10, 2017
I was never overly fond of his music, but I thought I would read about his life as a composer. What a dissipated wastrel! Drugs, more drugs, even more drugs. The Cocaine '80's, drink drink drink, vomit, pass out, have famous friends doing vile things, affairs with married women. He buys a fancy muscle car, The Shelby, it costs a ton, he wrecks it doing something stupid, he gets it restored, he gets frustrated and has it destroyed again, more repairs. Lear Jets to go a hundred miles to make up with someone angry at him. Jesus H. Christ! GET A LIFE! BE RESPONSIBLE! He hauls a heavy organ out of his house, into a recording studio, just to do dit da dit dit on Witchita Lineman. :::Banging head into wall::: Don't waste your time. He wouldn't.
April 13, 2018
For a man who has written some of the greatest songs of all time ("MacArthur Park", "Up Up & Away", "Wichita Lineman", etc.) Jimmy Webb comes across as humble and self-effacing without being insufferable. He's almost bluntly honest, but never says anything bad about anyone, even if he's less than pleased with them. As a songwriter, he has a lovely command of the English language, and he uses that skill here, but never comes across as a know-it-all. He gives some wonderful insight into the making of some of pop music's most enduring hits. Most importantly, he explains exactly what "MacArthur Park" is about! I found it a very comfortable read, and the very last sentence actually brought me to tears.
August 12, 2021
I really wanted to love this book, but the shifting from year to year was confusing and it turned out to be very difficult to read . We all know the era of sex, drugs and rock and roll, but this wasn’t a fun read or an inspiring read. Webb chronicles a determination to date married women which was unexplained. I went to school with Jimmy Webb’s first wife who was a big time model at 13 and dating Webb in 1970 and looked for her since she left school pregnant with Webb’s baby in 1972 and they married soon after. No mention of Patsy Sullivan. In all, the autobiography seemed hastily written and in need of a good editor.
March 17, 2018
Capturing the magic
I love the music of Jimmy Webb. I loved Richard Harris, which is why I read this amazing memoir. Little did I know the extent of Jimmy Webb's journey and those he collaborated with and wrote his magic for. I saw Jimmy Webb perform at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel's Cinegrill in the late 1990s, which was a magical night. I look forward to Book 2 of this incredible, flawed songwriter's journey.
I love the music of Jimmy Webb. I loved Richard Harris, which is why I read this amazing memoir. Little did I know the extent of Jimmy Webb's journey and those he collaborated with and wrote his magic for. I saw Jimmy Webb perform at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel's Cinegrill in the late 1990s, which was a magical night. I look forward to Book 2 of this incredible, flawed songwriter's journey.
April 19, 2019
I shouldn't be surprised, he's got talent telling stories in song. But it was great listening to him narrate all the stories as if he was just telling them to you sitting around the kitchen table or a booth in the local pub. Most times I don't like the author narrate their own books, but in this case it was perfect!
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