Clarence Carson Parks II (26 April 1936 – 22 June 2005), also known as C. Carson Parks, 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.

Early life and career

Parks was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the son of a psychiatrist. Carson's early musical training began as a student at the internationally acclaimed

American Boychoir School The American Boychoir School was a boarding/day middle school located in Princeton, New Jersey, and the home of the American Boychoir. The school originated as the Columbus Boychoir in Columbus, Ohio. In 1950, the school relocated after receiving ...

(formerly known as The Columbus Boychoir School). After attending

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

, the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

and then

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, 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 Terry Gilkyson (June 17, 1916 — October 15, 1999) was an American folk singer and songwriter. Biography Gilkyson was born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and graduated from St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island in 1935. By his early ...

's band,

The Easy Riders The Easy Riders were an American folk music band, that operated from 1956 to 1959, consisting of Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller. Their career was guided by Mitch Miller, who had them under contract for Columbia Records. Their gre ...

, 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 and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...

film ''

The Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Anto ...

''.Obituary in ''The Independent'' by Spencer Leigh
/ref> 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, Van Dyke Parks, occasionally adding singer Pat Peyton as the Steeltown Three and the Southcoasters. Carson Parks at Allmusic/ref>Biography on Carson Parks website
/ref> Following the success of The New Christy Minstrels, Gilkyson and the Parks brothers then formed a choral group, The Greenwood County Singers, featuring five men and two women. They released four albums on Kapp Records 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 #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. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

's organisation, Parks ensured that Sinatra heard the song. Sinatra played it to his daughter Nancy's producer, Lee Hazlewood, 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 #1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and reached #1 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

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 the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies an ...

and

Jack Jones Jack Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *Jack Jones (American singer) (born 1938), American jazz and pop singer *Jack Jones, stage name of Australian singer Irwin Thomas (born 1971) *Jack Jones (Welsh musician) (born 1992), Welsh mu ...

. The Mills Brothers recording of Parks' "

Cab Driver "Cab Driver" is a song written by Carson Parks and performed by The Mills Brothers featuring Sy Oliver, Sy Oliver and His Orchestra. It reached #3 on the Adult Contemporary (chart), Easy Listening chart, #21 on the ''Cashbox (magazine), Cashbo ...

" reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Billboard Easy listening chart in 1968. Cab Driver at Billboard/ref> He receded from performing and writing to focus on publishing, owning and operating the

Waynesville, North Carolina Waynesville is a town and the county seat of Haywood County, North Carolina. It is the largest town in North Carolina west of Asheville. Waynesville is located about southwest of Asheville between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains. As ...

-based music publishing firms Greenwood Music and Br'er Rab Music. He died in 2005 in

St. Marys, Georgia St. Marys is a city in Camden County, Georgia, United States, located on the southern border of Camden County on the St. Marys River. The Florida border is just to the south across the river, Cumberland Island National Seashore is to the northea ...

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 # 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 advertise ...

# 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 # 742) (Billboard # 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 musicians