Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his autobiography Confessions (published posthumously in 1782, but completed in 1769), relates that "a great princess" is said to have advised, with regard to peasants who had no bread, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", commonly inaccurately translated as "Let them eat cake".
The song, in the second line, mentions the phrase "Let them eat cake", a phrase (mis)attributed to Marie Antoinette: "Let them eat cake," she said, Just like Marie Antoinette.
Jimmy Eat World | Cake | Cake (band) | Pop Will Eat Itself | Eat Bulaga! | The Sea and Cake | cake | Eat Static | Eat Pray Love | Please Don't Eat the Daisies (film) | Please Don't Eat the Daisies | Let them eat cake | If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake | Eat, Pray, Love | Eat Bulaga | Cake Boss | Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows | Meal, Ready-to-Eat | EAT THIS! (SCH Album) | Eat This! | Eat the Rich (film) | Eat the Rich | Eat a Bowl of Tea | Battenberg cake | The Yellow Cake Revue | The Sea and Cake (album) | The Cake Eaters | Thanks, I'll Eat It Here | Some Days You Eat the Bear | Press cake |
He also began to write straight comedies, and his plays included Aren't We All? (1923), Spring Cleaning (1925), The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1925, which ran for 514 performances), On Approval (1927), Canaries Sometimes Sing (1929) and Let Them Eat Cake (aka Half a loaf) among others.
One of Macpherson's most celebrated cartoons featured John Diefenbaker as Marie Antoinette saying "Let them eat cake," after Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow project and its 14,000 jobs.