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Authors: Roni Sarig
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[Parks’ influence] was definitely there in the back of mind [on the High Llamas’ Hawaii], this bloody thing I wanted to get out of my system. It’s derivative, I guess. I thought I was putting together a record that Van Dyke would’ve done.”
Van Dyke Parks draws on the entire American musical heritage, from 19 th -century minstrelsy to psychedelic pop. While he has worked for decades just under the surface of our musical culture and his distinctive stamp can be heard in everything from film music to orchestral pop to experimental sounds, only a small cult of fans cherish him as a true American original. His influence can be heard both in bands like the High Llamas – who create lush, dizzyingly exaggerated pop – and more art-minded composers who work with pop idioms. Through his solo material – and through his ill-fated collaboration with Brian Wilson on the Beach Boys’ aborted Smile album – Parks has elevated the modern pop tune into the world of the art song.
Parks was born in 1943 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the son of a distinguished doctor who had played in John Philip Sousa’s band. Van Dyke played clarinet at age four, and sang in operas and choruses conducted by Arturo Toscanini before he’d reached his teens. He was also a child actor who appeared on Broadway and had bit parts on television and in films. After studying music composition in college, Parks played in a folk group called the Greenwood County Singers (with his brother Carson, who later wrote Frank Sinatra’s hit “Something Stupid”), and worked as a session musician at Disney.
In his early twenties, Parks shifted his focus toward pop music. He became a songwriter (penning the often-recorded High Coin ), session pianist (on records by the Byrds and Grateful Dead), and producer (for Judy Collins, Randy Newman, Arlo Guthrie, and others). In 1966, Parks met the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, who had recently produced his most ambitious work, his band’s Pet Sounds album. Wilson hoped his follow-up, Smile , would be far more sophisticated even than Pet Sounds, and invited Parks to collaborate with him.
In the face of growing national turmoil, Wilson wanted to explore innocence lost in America – a prevalent theme in Parks’ own work – and create what he called “a teenage symphony to God.” As promised, the first song Parks and Wilson wrote together, Surf’s up (which was not a surf song at all – note the title’s double meaning), was miles beyond the band’s signature beach music. Parks’ lyrics – with surreal, deeply evocative lines like, “Columnated ruins domino / canvas the town and brush the backdrop” – were the perfect match for Wilson’s music.
Tony Goddess, Papas Fritas:
They really took a literal picture of the sound. Like the song Vegetables , where the downbeat would be accented by the sound of them biting through a carrot, or Cabinessence , where they use rustic sounds like a banjo and a harmonica. Nothing we do is as developed as those guys, but like with “Live By the Water,” I tried to make an island, calypso rhythm. I think Van Dyke Parks was directly responsible for pushing Brian Wilson toward that stuff. Some people really think he fucked up Brian Wilson, but I really like his lyrics. That’s why we named our studio Columnated Ruins, from the lyrics to Surf’s up .
Smile , though, was plagued with difficulties. Brian’s increasing mental instability and drug use were turning the recording process into a bottomless pit of expense that produced brilliant musical fragments but little completed work. The album was hyped as a masterpiece, but months passed without a release. It soon became clear Wilson was losing touch with reality. Meanwhile, the other Beach Boys wanted nothing to do with Parks’ “incomprehensible” lyrics. When tensions mounted between Wilson and the band, Parks bowed out and Smile was abandoned altogether. Never officially released (though bits have shown up on later
Van Dyke Parks draws on the entire American musical heritage, from 19 th -century minstrelsy to psychedelic pop. While he has worked for decades just under the surface of our musical culture and his distinctive stamp can be heard in everything from film music to orchestral pop to experimental sounds, only a small cult of fans cherish him as a true American original. His influence can be heard both in bands like the High Llamas – who create lush, dizzyingly exaggerated pop – and more art-minded composers who work with pop idioms. Through his solo material – and through his ill-fated collaboration with Brian Wilson on the Beach Boys’ aborted Smile album – Parks has elevated the modern pop tune into the world of the art song.
Parks was born in 1943 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the son of a distinguished doctor who had played in John Philip Sousa’s band. Van Dyke played clarinet at age four, and sang in operas and choruses conducted by Arturo Toscanini before he’d reached his teens. He was also a child actor who appeared on Broadway and had bit parts on television and in films. After studying music composition in college, Parks played in a folk group called the Greenwood County Singers (with his brother Carson, who later wrote Frank Sinatra’s hit “Something Stupid”), and worked as a session musician at Disney.
In his early twenties, Parks shifted his focus toward pop music. He became a songwriter (penning the often-recorded High Coin ), session pianist (on records by the Byrds and Grateful Dead), and producer (for Judy Collins, Randy Newman, Arlo Guthrie, and others). In 1966, Parks met the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, who had recently produced his most ambitious work, his band’s Pet Sounds album. Wilson hoped his follow-up, Smile , would be far more sophisticated even than Pet Sounds, and invited Parks to collaborate with him.
In the face of growing national turmoil, Wilson wanted to explore innocence lost in America – a prevalent theme in Parks’ own work – and create what he called “a teenage symphony to God.” As promised, the first song Parks and Wilson wrote together, Surf’s up (which was not a surf song at all – note the title’s double meaning), was miles beyond the band’s signature beach music. Parks’ lyrics – with surreal, deeply evocative lines like, “Columnated ruins domino / canvas the town and brush the backdrop” – were the perfect match for Wilson’s music.
Tony Goddess, Papas Fritas:
They really took a literal picture of the sound. Like the song Vegetables , where the downbeat would be accented by the sound of them biting through a carrot, or Cabinessence , where they use rustic sounds like a banjo and a harmonica. Nothing we do is as developed as those guys, but like with “Live By the Water,” I tried to make an island, calypso rhythm. I think Van Dyke Parks was directly responsible for pushing Brian Wilson toward that stuff. Some people really think he fucked up Brian Wilson, but I really like his lyrics. That’s why we named our studio Columnated Ruins, from the lyrics to Surf’s up .
Smile , though, was plagued with difficulties. Brian’s increasing mental instability and drug use were turning the recording process into a bottomless pit of expense that produced brilliant musical fragments but little completed work. The album was hyped as a masterpiece, but months passed without a release. It soon became clear Wilson was losing touch with reality. Meanwhile, the other Beach Boys wanted nothing to do with Parks’ “incomprehensible” lyrics. When tensions mounted between Wilson and the band, Parks bowed out and Smile was abandoned altogether. Never officially released (though bits have shown up on later
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