Clarence Carson Parks II (April 26, 1936 – June 22, 2005) was an American songwriter, music publisher, musician and singer, best known for writing the hit song " Somethin' Stupid". His younger brother is the composer

Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, record producer, singer, and former Warner Bros. Records executive whose work encompasses orchestral pop, elaborate recording experiments, Ame ...

Early life and career

Parks was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, the son of a psychiatrist. Carson's early musical training began as a student at the internationally acclaimed American Boychoir School (formerly known as The Columbus Boychoir School). After attending

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was Settler, settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed. ...

, the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

and then

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

, he began working in Los Angeles. In 1959, with college friend Bernie Armstrong, he formed the Steeltown Two and first recorded for the small Gini label. The duo also worked as one half of a reformed version of Terry Gilkyson's band, The Easy Riders, and in 1960 they performed on the soundtrack of the

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

film '' The Alamo''. The pair also worked as The Kinsmen with singer Bud Dashiell, before Parks left in 1962. He then formed a new version of the Steeltown Two, with his younger brother,

, occasionally adding singer Pat Peyton as the Steeltown Three and the Southcoasters. Following the success of

The New Christy Minstrels The New Christy Minstrels are an American large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. The group has recorded more than 20 albums and scored several hits, including "Green, Green (song), Green, Green", "Saturday Night", "Tod ...

, Gilkyson and the Parks brothers formed a choral group, the Greenwood County Singers, featuring five men and two women. They released four albums on

Kapp Records Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp (who set up American Decca Records in 1934). David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and RCA Victor. Kapp licensed its records to L ...

between 1963 and 1965, later becoming known as The Greenwood Singers and finally The Greenwoods. The group had two minor hits, "Please Don't Sell My Daddy No More Wine" reaching number #64 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1966, and included singer Gaile Foote, whom Carson Parks married.

"Somethin' Stupid"

Before the Greenwoods disbanded, Parks and Foote also began performing as a duo, Carson and Gaile, and in 1966 recorded an album for Kapp Records, ''San Antonio Rose''. This mostly included Parks' own songs, one of which was the track " Somethin' Stupid". Through a contact in

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

's organisation, Parks ensured that Sinatra heard the song. Sinatra played it to his daughter Nancy's producer,

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...

, who recalled "He asked me, 'Do you like it?' and I said, 'I love it, and if you don't sing it with Nancy, I will.' He said, 'We're gonna do it, book a studio.'" The recording by Frank and Nancy Sinatra spent four weeks at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and also reached number one on the UK Singles Chart.

Later career

Following the success of "Somethin' Stupid", Parks wrote songs for other artists, including

The Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed The Four Mills Brothers and originally known as Four Boys and a Guitar, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and g ...

and Jack Jones. The Mills Brothers recording of Parks' "

Cab Driver A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

" reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the Billboard Easy listening chart in 1968. He receded from performing and writing to focus on publishing, owning and operating the Waynesville, North Carolina–based music publishing firms Greenwood Music and Br'er Rab Music. He died in 2005 in St. Marys, Georgia, at the age of 69.

Discography

The Steeltown Two

:45 1959 The Wolves / Tarrytown (Gini Records) :45 1959 The Potters Wheel / The Straw Carol (Neophon Records)

The Easy Riders

:LP 1960 Rollin' (Kapp Records) :LP 1961 Remember the Alamo (Kapp Records) :LP 1963 The Cry of the Wild Goose (Kapp Records) :45 1961? Deep Blue Sea / Nite Life (Montclare Records)

Bud Dashiell and the Kinsmen

:LP 1961 Bud Dashiell and the Kinsmen (Warner Bros. Records)

The Steeltown Three

:45 1962? Rock Mountain / The Girl with the Sad Eyes (Montclare Records)

The Southcoasters

:45 1962? San Francisco Bay / Long Gone from the Farm (Montclare Records)

The Greenwood County Singers

:LP 1964 The First Recording by the Joyful... (Kapp Records) :45 1964 Frankie and Johnny (aka The New Frankie and Johnnie Song) / Climb Up Sunshine Mountain (Kapp No. 591) (

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

number 75 pop) :LP 1964 Have You Heard... (Kapp Records) :LP 1965 The Ballad of Cat Ballou (Kapp Records) :45 1965 Anne / Cake Walking Babies from Home (Kapp Records)

The Greenwoods

:45 1966 Please Don't Sell My Daddy No More Wine / Southbound (Kapp No. 742) (Billboard number 64 pop)

Carson and Gaile

:LP 1966 San Antonio Rose (Kapp Records) :45 1966 The Wild Side of Life / How Much Is That Doggie... (Congress Records) :45 1967 Something Stupid / Chapter One (Kapp Records)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parks, Carson 1936 births 2005 deaths Songwriters from Pennsylvania 20th-century American songwriters