Editing Richard Harris (section)

== Singing career ==
Harris recorded several albums of music, one of which, ''[[A Tramp Shining]]'', included the seven-minute hit song "[[MacArthur Park (song)|MacArthur Park]]" (Harris insisted on singing the lyric as "MacArthur's Park").<ref>Fresh Air interview with Jimmy Webb by Terry Gross on NPR, 2004</ref> This song was written by [[Jimmy Webb]], and it reached number 2 on the American ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]] chart. It also topped several music sales charts in Europe during the summer of 1968. "MacArthur Park" sold over one million copies and was awarded a [[music recording sales certification|gold disc]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book| last = Murrells| first = Joseph| title = The Book of Golden Discs| url = https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr| url-access = registration| edition = 2nd| year = 1978| publisher = Barrie and Jenkins Ltd| location = London| isbn = 978-0-214-20512-5| page = 241| access-date = 8 November 2011 }}</ref> In 2024, "[[MacArthur Park (song)|MacArthur Park]]" was featured in the wedding sequence of the [[Tim Burton]] film ''[[Beetlejuice Beetlejuice]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-07 |title=What Is The Wedding Song In ’Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’? |url=https://uproxx.com/indie/what-is-the-wedding-song-in-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/ |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=UPROXX |language=en-US}}</ref> A second album, also consisting entirely of music composed by Webb, ''[[The Yard Went on Forever]]'', was released in 1969.<ref>Album liner notes for "Richard Harris – the Webb Sessions 1968–1969"</ref> In the 1973 TV special "[[Burt Bacharach]] in Shangri-La", after singing Webb's "Didn't We", Harris tells Bacharach that since he was not a trained singer he approached songs as an actor concerned with words and emotions, acting the song with the sort of honesty the song is trying to convey. Then he proceeds to sing "If I Could Go Back", from the ''[[Lost Horizon (1973 film)|Lost Horizon]]'' soundtrack.