A SMILING DUTCHMAN: VAN DYKE PARKS
By on February 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Welcome the inauguration of a new series of posts regarding my favorite composers! Expect more soon.
To begin with, I got chills watching this excellent Dutch documentary from 2002 which, simply put, is viewed like you might read a book:
Of course, this layout is a Real Talk shoutout from Uncle…
There is a lot of information I’d like to share about why I adore Van Dyke Parks as much as I do, but Wikipedia explains it quite well. Pretty much, he’s the raddest dude ever. Film composer, collaborator extraordinarie, sick lyricist, actor (!), composer, arranger…I mean come on! Here’s the short list of awesome people he’s worked with: The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson (also: to top it off, a new one this year), Randy Newman, Joanna Newsom, Jon Cale, Loudon Wainwright III. Know those guys but think you’ve never heard his stuff? Well Zac Pennington reminds us that “his first paying job was arranging ‘The Bear Necessities’ for Disney’s the Jungle Book, and work with Harper’s Bizzare”. God damn. A lucky duck, Zac also shares this rad story: “I met him about a month ago. Really nice guy. He said when he was nine, his boy choir performed for an audience that included Albert Einstein. Van Dyke was the only kid who knew the German words to “Silent Night,” so he sang it for Einstein, who left, got his violin, and came back to accompany the boy. How ridiculously cool is that?”
I end with a secret.
Categories: Favorite Composers
Tags: Dutch documentary, Van Dyke Parks
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Comments (4)
Thanks don! I was really moved by the documentary as well. I thought it was really well done, full and rich. Part 6 was cool but I enjoyed them all. Especially when you heard his friends talk about the effect of his music on their lives. So rad! Glad you enjoyed it.
Posted by Jordan 
| February 17, 2008 @ 3:14 AM
thanks for pointing this doc. out.
Posted by alex itin | February 22, 2008 @ 10:17 AM
I have been (for what tonight seems to have been a very long time) a fan of the various works and talents of Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson, Randy Newman and Ry Cooder.
Thank you, Jordan, for making these clips available so I could discern still more aspects of the interconnectedness of it all (humble credit and acknowledgment to Douglas Adams, of course).
Watching the parts of this documentary has been a source of joy for me.
Posted by don | February 16, 2008 @ 11:02 PM