{{Infobox musical artist
|Name = Van Dyke Parks
|Img = SongCyclealbumcover.png
|Img_capt = On the cover of his 1968 debut album
''
Song Cycle''
|Background = non_performing_personnel
|Born =
Hattiesburg,
Mississippi
|Genre =
Americana
|Occupation =
Composer,
Performer,
Instrumentalist,
Arranger,
Producer,
Lyricist
|Instrument =
Vocals,
Piano,
Harpsichord,
Synthesizer,
Accordion,
Celeste,
Organ
|Label =
Warner Bros.,
MGM
|URL =
VanDykeParks.com
}}
Van Dyke Parks (born
January 3,
1943) is an
American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, and actor. His work spans six decades, and he has worked with luminaries from Grace Kelley to the Beach Boys and the Byrds. From child actor to film composer, producer, and ethnomusicologist, Parks has created a distinct musical legacy and influence through his own albums, and through his work for other artists and behind the scenes in the music industry.
Early career
As a child, Parks attended the
American Boychoir School. He began his career as a child actor. Between
1953 and
1958 he worked steadily in films and television, including the
1956 movie ''
The Swan'' (which starred
Grace Kelly). He appeared as
Ezio Pinza's son Andrew Bonino on the NBC television show
Bonino. Parks had a recurring role as Little Tommy Manacotti (the kid from upstairs) on
Jackie Gleason's ''
The Honeymooners''.
Parks originally studied the
Clarinet, but had moved to the piano before his study (where he majored in music) at the
Carnegie Institute, in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania from
1960 to
1963. In
January 1963 Parks learned to play the
guitar and soon relocated to
Los Angeles to play with his older brother
Carson Parks as
The Steeltown Two (later enlarged to the steeltown three), which eventually became the
folk group
The Greenwood County Singers (Parks took a short hiatus from this group, moving to New England to be part of
The Brandywine Singers).
By
1964, Parks had an artist contract at
MGM Records. In
1966 he switched to
Warner Bros. Records, persuaded by producer
Lenny Waronker. During this time he worked frequently as a session musician, arranger and songwriter. Parks met
Beach Boys leader
Brian Wilson though
Terry Melcher (who he met as producer of
The Byrds). During 1966 Parks performed on
The Byrds album
Fifth Dimension (
David Crosby later asked Parks to join the band, but Parks refused) as well as on the ill fated
Beach Boys project
Smile. Also during this period, Parks' compositions, such as the hit "High Coin" for
Harpers Bizarre were becoming known for their lyrical wordplay and sharp imagery.
SMiLE
In
1966 Brian Wilson commissioned Parks to write lyrics for the Beach Boys' next LP, the ambitious but ill-fated ''
SMiLE''. Parks and Wilson collaborated on songs for the album. Members of the Beach Boys strongly opposed ''SMiLE'', notably
Mike Love who negatively called Parks' lyrics "Acid Alliteration".The combination of resistance from the group and their record company, and Wilson's growing mental health problems and spiraling drug use, led Parks to quit the project in early 1967. It was shelved a few months later. Several Wilson/Parks songs from the ''SMiLE'' sessions later appeared on the Beach Boys' replacement album ''
Smiley Smile'', including "Heroes and Villains" and "
Wind Chimes." Other songs slated for ''SMiLE'', including "
Cabinessence" and "
Surf's Up," were compiled by
Carl Wilson and included on subsequent LPs.
''SMiLE'' soon acquired legendary status as one of the great lost works of the rock era. In 2004, Brian Wilson, having returned to touring and recording, made a surprise announcement that he was going to finish the mythical record using his current touring band. He contacted Parks, and the duo finished incomplete parts of the album. Wilson and his band recorded and released "SMiLE" to enormous critical acclaim, earning Wilson a
Grammy award for the Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the piece "Mrs O'Leary's Cow" (aka "Fire").
Solo music career
In
1968, Parks released his first solo album, ''
Song Cycle'', a "head trip"of orchestral textures and traditional
Americana-meets-
psychedelic pop song structure. ''Song Cycle'' established Parks' signature approach of mining and updating old American musical traditions, including
ragtime and New Orleans-style
jazz, with wry, literate and insightful lyrics, and is also notable for the inclusion of a cover of the
Randy Newman song "Vine Street". Although universally praised by critics,the album sold extremely poorly. The album is #23 among worst rock albums in the 1991 Jimmy Guterman-Owen O'Donnell book ''The Worst Rock 'n' Roll Records of All-Time''.
Four years later, Parks' travels to the
West Indies inspired his second solo album ''
Discover America''. ''Discover America'' was a rich tribute to the islands of
Trinidad and Tobago and to
Calypso music. Parks re-arranged and re-produced obscure songs and calypso classics. This direction was continued in the 1976 release ''
Clang of the Yankee Reaper''.
Parks'
1984 album ''
Jump!'' featured songs adapted from the stories of
Uncle Remus and
Brer Rabbit. The album features a Broadway-style reduced orchestra plus Americana additions like banjo, mandolin, and steel drums. Parks composed the album but did not arrange or produce it. Martin Kibbee contributes to the lyrics.
Following ''Jump!'', in 1989 Warner Brothers released ''
Tokyo Rose''. This concept album focuses on the history of Japanese / U.S. relations from the 19th century to the "trade war" of the time of its release. The songs are pop tunes with an orchestral treatment including Japanese instruments and old Parks Caribbean favorites like steel drums. The listener journeys from old Tokyo to the Wild Wild west on songs such as "Tokyo Rose", "Cowboy", "Manzanar" and "White Chrysanthemum". The album did not sell well and was not widely critically noticed.
In
1995 Parks teamed up again with
Brian Wilson to create the album ''
Orange Crate Art''. Parks wrote all of the songs on the album, except "This Town Goes Down At Sunset" and George Gershwin instrumental "Lullaby", and the vocals were done by Brian Wilson. ''Orange Crate Art'' is a tribute to the
Southern California of the early
1900s, and a lyrical tribute to the beauty of
Northern California. The songs are rich and lavishly
orchestrated by Parks.
1998 saw the release of Parks' first live album,
Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove, which shows a love of the work of nineteenth century American pianist
Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The live ensemble features an all-star cast including
Sid Page as concertmaster.
Work for other artists
Parks has
produced, arranged, or played on albums by artists including
U2,
Silverchair,
Randy Newman,
Harry Nilsson,
The Byrds,
Cher,
Rufus Wainwright,
Sam Phillips,
Ringo Starr,
Frank Black,
Keith Moon,
Carly Simon,
T-Bone Burnett,
Toad the Wet Sprocket,
Victoria Williams,
Bonnie Raitt,
Peter Case,
Gordon Lightfoot,
Fiona Apple,
Sheryl Crow,
Ry Cooder,
Joanna Newsom,
The Everly Brothers,
The Thrills,
Arthur Goldstein and Archie Blue,
Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle,
Scissor Sisters,
Laurie Anderson,
The Mighty Sparrow,
The Esso Trinidad Tripoli Steelband, and
Susanna Hoffs/
Matthew Sweet's covers collection.
In 2006 he collaborated with singer
Joanna Newsom on the orchestral arrangements for her second album,
Ys released
14 November 2006. He and David Mansfield are co-credited with the music for the 2006 mini-series ''Broken Trail''. He has additionally contributed orchestrations to the
Danger Mouse produced second album by UK psychedelic 3 piece
The Shortwave Set due for release early in 2008.
He also composed orchestral arrangements for the fifth
Silverchair album,
Young Modern, on three songs, "If You Keep Losing Sleep", "Those Thieving Birds/Strange Behavior", and "All Across The World". Johns and Parks traveled to Prague to have the orchestral arrangements recorded by the
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The album's title "Young Modern" is a reference to a nickname Parks has for Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns. This follows his work on Silverchair's 4th album,
Diorama, to which he contributed orchestral arrangements on "
Across The Night", "Tuna In The Brine", and "
Luv Your Life".
Other career
Parks has taken small TV and film roles including appearances in ''Popeye'', ''The Two Jakes'', and the ''
Twin Peaks'' TV series.
Parks wrote a series of children's books ('Jump' (with Malcolm Jones), 'Jump Again' and 'Jump on Over'), based around the
Br'er rabbit tales, illustrated by
Barry Moser, and loosely accompanied by Parks' own album
Jump!. The books contain sheet music for selected songs from the album.
Parks set up the pioneering audio/visual department
Warner Bros. records in 1971. This department was the earliest of its kind to record videos to promote records.
New projects
Van Dyke Parks has completed work with Brian Wilson on a new narrative song cycle entitled
That Lucky Old Sun (A Narrative). Additionally, he is collaborating with
Danger Mouse on a new record tentatively titled Replica Sun Machine, which features a 24-piece orchestra and further input from the
Velvet Underground's
John Cale. That disc is set for release early next year.
Discography
Singles
"Number Nine / Do What You Wanta", 1966, single 45
"Come to the Sunshine / Farther Along", 1966, single 45
"Donovan's Colours, Pt. 1 / Donovan's Colours, Pt. 2" 1968" single 45 (under the pseudonym George Washington Brown)
"The Eagle and Me / On The Rolling Sea When Jesus Speak to Me" 1970, single 45
"Occapella / Ode to Tobago" 1972, single 45
Other albums
Replica Sun Machine (tentative title) with Danger Mouse and John Cale.
Filmography
''Goin' South'' (1978)
Books
Jump
Jump Again
References
Sources
Pirore, Dominic, SMiLE, Omnibus Press