Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, whose works you've probably enjoyed without realizing who wrote them. He scored - among others - the movies Private Parts, Bastard Out of Carolina, Wild Bill, Popeye, and The Two Jakes - a film in which he played the district attorney.

His albums - Song Cycle, Discover America, Clang of the Yankee Reaper, Jump!, Tokyo Rose, Orange Crate Art, and Live at the Ash Grove - are full of his wonderful music, poetic lyrics, and imaginative arrangements. A lot of his work celebrates America - both the sweet and the bittersweet.

His lyrics, especially for Brian Wilson's Smile suite, may seem deceptively abstract at first. Full of puns, they challenge the listener to decipher their meaning. He was once asked what "Over and over the crow cries uncover the corn field" means. He should answered, "Ask Vincent Van Gogh." (I took the name of this blog - Cotillion Squared - from the lyrics he wrote for Heroes and Villains.)

In honor of his January birthday, let's celebrate some of his lyrics by pairing them with artworks - some that may have inspired him; some that he may have inspired; and some that parallel his poetry by happy serendipity.

“Cabinessence”

“Over and over, the crow cries uncover the cornfield,
Over and over, the thresher uncovers the wheatfield.”

Wheatfield with Crows – (1890) – Vincent Van Gogh

“Surf’s Up”

“Columnated ruins domino.”

Ghost – Corinthian Capital - (1994) - Andrew Leicester

“Surf’s Up” is an anti-war song. The above line refers to the fall of empires. (The mural above can be found in the 34th St. entrance to the Long Island Railroad terminal at Pennsylvania Station in New York City.)

“Roll Plymouth Rock”

“Ribbon of Concrete, now see what you’ve done,
To the Church of the American Indian.”

Road – Nevada Desert – (1960) – Ansel Adams

“Manzanar”

“Let a bungalow and yard fulfill your every need,
Get a Romeo and garden all but gone to seed as they say.
Every swallow returning,
Just to follow a natural yearning,
It is just a paper chase when she has gone away.”

Tom Kobayashi (Part of a series of Manzanar photos) – (1943) – Ansel Adams

“Manzanar” is about one of the most shameful periods in American history; the internment of Japanese-Americans in “relocation camps.” I especially like the metaphor of swallows returning to Capistrano. (Ansel Adams made four visits to Manzanar to photograph - at his own expense - the internees there, hoping to influence public opinion against their internment.) Parks is aware of Adams’ photos, as this line from the song indicates:

“Don't know me from Ansel Adams 'cause I'm from Los Angeles”

“Cowboy”

“Paniolo cowboy in a field of sugar cane,
Once there was a forest where they hid there in the rain.”

Blue and Green Music – (1919) – Georgia O’Keefe

“Paniolo” is a Hawaiian cowboy.

“I forgot to mention it was nineteen forty-one,
Zeros kept a-comin' like to blanket out the sun.”

The Arizona – (2006) – Kurt Ackerman

He turned 65 on January 3, 2008. Happy Birthday, Mr. Parks.