People I Wanna Malkovich #1: Van Dyke Parks
a-t: i have never seen a man rock the mock turtleneck the way that one does
The always excellent If Charlie Parker Was A Gunslinger, There'd Be A Whole Lot of Dead Copycats features this lovely portrait of Van Dyke Parks in the studio circa 1968. Parks seems to be in vogue again these days, following his lyrical contributions to Brian Wilson's finally released Smile, his incredible orchestration of Joanna Newsom's Ys, as well as the Paul Thomas Anderson-fueled rediscovery of Harry Nilsson's Popeye soundtrack, which he did arrangements for. I got into him early on in high school, before I even started obsessing about The Beach Boys. The ingredients in his music added up to a perfect Evan recipe: whimsical, surreal lyrics; Stephen Foster-inspired Americana; Tin Pan Alley wit and melody; delicate, shifting chamber orchestrations; concept albums based on Uncle Remus stories, etc. He also served as my introduction to my absolute fave, Randy Newman, as Parks's masterpiece debut album Song Cycle from 1968 opens with a stunning arrangement of Newman's "Vine Street" (which Nilsson would also use as the leadoff track of his best album).
Here is "Come To The Sunshine," a single Van Dyke Parks released in 1967. The same year, Harpers Bizarre would also feature a cover of it on their first album.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Van Dyke Parks - "Come To The Sunshine" [mp3]
[if charlie parker was a gunslinger, there'd be a whole lot of dead copycats]