Tug the Cox - I think you're pretty much right about that. The folk music movement that is identified with the 60s, though, really got going in the late 50s and began to fragment and weaken around 65-66, due to the "British invasion" and electric music taking predominance.

As someone who grew up in the 60s, I would agree that as a cultural phenomenon it really got going around '63 and more or less died by the early to mid-70's...by about '74 or '75.


Bill H - You gotta be kidding. McArthur Park isn't literally about a cake melting in the rain, fer Chrissake! That's a metaphor. The song is about a lost love, and anyone who has gotten through poetry 1.01 should be able to figure that out. The whole thing is metaphorical. The cake melting is a symbol of one's romantic dreams collapsing and vanishing. The "recipe" is a symbol. The park is a symbol. It's ALL symbolic. Get with the friggin' program, buster! ;-) I don't know how many people I've had to explain this to, but you are probably about the 500th. It's like having to explain to people that the windmill in Don Quixote is symbolic of something. Sheesh. Gimme a break. You can tell by the vocal line in that song that the singer is not just singing about a cake, for heaven's sake. He's singing about getting his (or her) heart broken.