Carson Parks, 69; Wrote Hit Tune for Nancy, Frank Sinatra

Carson Parks, 69, a singer-songwriter who wrote Frank Sinatra’s first gold single -- “Somethin’ Stupid,” which he sang with daughter Nancy -- died Wednesday of kidney failure at his home in St. Marys, Ga.

In addition to the frequently recorded “Somethin’ Stupid,” Parks wrote “Cab Driver (Drive by Mary’s Place),” “Open for Business as Usual,” “Real True Lovin’,” “The Longest Beer of the Night,” “With His Pants in His Hands,” “Black Dress” and “Chapter One.”

Parks, the publisher-owner of Greenwood Music Co., launched his career in the late 1950s as the baritone half of the Southern California folk-singing duo the Steeltown Two.

He later sang and recorded with the Easy Riders, the Southcoasters, Bud Dashiell & the Kinsmen, the Greenwood Country Singers and Carson and Gaile.

Parks was the brother of musician and film composer Van Dyke Parks and the father of screenwriter Rick Parks.

Born Clarence Carson Parks II in Philadelphia in 1936, he attended the University of Miami on a band scholarship and majored in directing at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in theater arts.