History Music / VanDykeParks

Growing up in Mississippi, Van Dyke had a musical upbringing yet started as a child actor since the age of 10, appearing in movies such as ''Film/TheSwan'' or having a recurring role on ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' (he stopped acting after getting into music and only came back once for playing in an episode of ''Series/TwinPeaks''). He dropped out of university before having his first music gig as an arranger for the song "Bare Necessities" from ''Film/TheJungleBook''. His musical career had a kickstart when he came to California and worked with various rock acts such as Music/TheByrds, [[Music/FrankZappa The Mothers Of Invention]] and Music/PaulRevereAndTheRaiders on top of forming a folk duo with his brother Carson.

* ExcitedShowTitle: 1984's ''Jump!''.

Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American songwriter/producer whose musical career is known through different parts of Pop music and Americana. Aside from a wide variety of collaborators, his best known work is with Music/BrianWilson for Music/TheBeachBoys' ''Music/{{Smile}}''.

He also got involved in the Beatnik scene and managed to get in contact with Brian Wilson through the use of psychedelics (Van Dyke recalled that Brian viewed people consuming drugs as enlightened). Collaboration between the two songwriters wouldn't happen until the making of the infamous ''SMiLE'' album which remained unfinished for decades (for a variety of reasons, Van Dyke personally had a problem working with fellow Beach Boy Music/MikeLove). Van Dyke left the recording sessions (which has since been viewed as a breaking point for the album's shelving) in order to focus on a solo career and he released his first album in 1967, ''Song Cycle'', which had a weak reception but got a cult following later on.

Inspired by the counterculture of the late sixties, Van Dyke tried to stray away from the pop scene and invested himself in carribean music genres such as calypso, getting in contact with a steel band working for Music/{{Liberace}} and "saving" them from him. His second album ''Discover America'' explores that calypso genre. After releasing his third album ''Clang of the Yankee Reaper'', he focused way more on composing soundtracks (notably ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster''). He would reunite with Brian in 1995 for their collaborative album ''Music/OrangeCrateArt'' and later on during the completion of ''SMiLE''. After an unsuccessful hand surgery in 2014, he performed his last piano performance. He remains an active musician since, occasionally working as an writer/arranger for a variety of artists including Music/JoannaNewsom, Music/{{Skrillex}} or Music/RingoStarr.

* ArchEnemy: Mike Love, though most of the hatred comes from Van Dyke. The two have on on-going misunderstanding over the lyrics written for ''SMiLE'', and Mike was quite mischevious when the two met again during the recording of the album ''Music/SummerInParadise''.

* {{Eagleland}}: One of the main themes in Parks' songwriting, mostly relevant in ''{{Music/SMiLE}}''.

* WordSaladLyrics: Recurring in his songs. One specific event during the recording of ''{{Music/SMiLE}}'' was the argument Van Dyke had with Mike Love about the lyrics of the song "Cabinessence". When the two met again decades later, Mike still asked him about the lyrics' meaning.

* 1989 - ''Tokyo Rose

Van Dyke Parks (born January 3rd 1943) is an American songwriter/producer whose musical career is known through different parts of Pop music and Americana. Aside from a wide variety of collaborators, his best known work is with Music/BrianWilson for Music/TheBeachBoys' ''Music/{{Smile}}''.

* WordSaladLyrics: Recurring in his songs. One specific event during the recording of ''{{Music/SMiLE}}'' was the argument Van Dyke had with Mike Love about the lyrics of the song ''Cabinessence''. When the two met again decades later, Mike still asked him about the lyrics' meaning.

Inspired by the counterculture of the late sixties, Van Dyke tried to stray away from the pop scene and invested himself in carribean music genres such as calypso, getting in contact with a steel band working for Music/{{Liberace}} and "saving" them from him. His second album "Discover America" explores that calypso genre. After releasing his third album "Clang Of The Yankee Reaper", he focused way more on composing soundtracks (notably ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster''). He would reunite with Brian in 1995 for their collaborative album ''Music/OrangeCrateArt'' and later on during the completion of ''SMiLE''. After an unsuccessful hand surgery in 2014, he performed his last piano performance. He remains an active musician since, occasionally working as an writer/arranger for a variety of artists including Music/JoannaNewsom, {{Music/Skrillex}} or Music/RingoStarr.

Inspired by the counterculture of the late sixties, Van Dyke tried to stray away from the pop scene and invested himself in carribean music genres such as calypso, getting in contact with a steel band working for Liberace and "saving" them from him. His second album "Discover America" explores that calypso genre. After releasing his third album "Clang Of The Yankee Reaper", he focused way more on composing soundtracks (notably ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster''). He would reunite with Brian in 1995 for their collaborative album ''Music/OrangeCrateArt'' and later on during the completion of ''SMiLE''. After an unsuccessful hand surgery in 2014, he performed his last piano performance. He remains an active musician since, occasionally working as an writer/arranger for a variety of artists including Music/JoannaNewsom, {{Music/Skrillex}} or Music/RingoStarr.

Growing up in Mississippi, Van Dyke had a musical upbringing yet started as a child actor since the age of 10, appearing in movies such as ''Film/TheSwan'' or having a recurring role on ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' (he stopped acting after getting into music and only came back once for playing in an episode of ''Series/TwinPeaks''). He dropped out of university before having his first music gig as an arranger for the song "Bare Necessities" from ''Film/TheJungleBook''. His musical career had a kickstart when he came to California and worked with various rock acts such as Music/TheByrds, ''[[Music/FrankZappa The Mothers Of Invention]]'' or Paul Revere & The Raiders on top of forming a folk duo with his brother Carson.

Van Dyke Parks (born January 3rd 1943) is an American songwriter/producer whose musical career is known through different parts of Pop music and Americana. Aside from a wide variety of collaborators, his best known work is with Music/BrianWilson for Music/TheBeachBoys' {{Music/Smile}}.

* WordSaladLyrics: Recurring in his songs. One specific event during the recording of ''{{Music/SMiLE}}'' was the argument Van Dyke had with Mike Love about the lyrics of the song ''Cabinessence''. When the two met again decades later, Mike still asked him about the lyrics' meaning.

* ArchEnemy: Mike Love, though most of the hatred comes from Van Dyke. The two have on on-going misunderstanding over the lyrics written for ''SMiLE'', and Mike was quite mischevious when the two met again during the recording of the album ''[[Music/SummerInParadise]]''.

* ArchEnemy: Mike Love, though most of the hatred comes from Van Dyke. The two have on on-going misunderstanding over the lyrics written for ''SMiLE'', and Mike was quite mischevious when the two met again during the recording of the song ''[[Music/StillCruisin Kokomo]]''.