D. J. David B. Spins Comics-Tunes: Olive Oyl
Sure, everyone knows the Popeye song. “I’m Popeye the Sailor Man, I live in a garbage can…â€
(click for a closer look)
(Popeye strip from my first birthday. Cards and gifts graciously accepted.)
But who knew there was a song about Olive Oyl?
A band called The Mixtures recorded this danceable little instrumental, complete with imitations of Popeye and Olive Oyl’s voices.
(if no bar appears please click here to listen)
Be sure to check out the deluxe Popeye collections available now from Fantagraphics.
— C. Yoe (in the funny papers)
Man, this ws a gr8 one, D.J. David B! Where do yuou come up with these?!? I love that the strip example is by Bill Zaboly. I drove my little Honda 65 from Akron to Cleveland in 1969 when I was 18 to meet him where he was living with his daughter. He seemed pretty old at the time-and pretty gruffy. I probably seemed like a long haired Hell’s Angel to him with my hair down to my shoulders and on my Honda. It was in the days of the “Generation Gap”, an “Us vs Them” mentality of the times. When I asked him if he would give me lessons to draw in the Popeye tradition I thought he’d be glad to pass on the knowledge to an eager young student. Instead he rebuffed my inquiry and curtly said to just copy the comics and, essentially, leave him alone. On the other hand I think that’s how he learned. He showed me a bunch of Segar panels and poses he had cut out of original art as a reference file. Thankfully the incredible Krazy Kat Sunday he had framed on the living room wall wasn’t cut up, but proudly displayed as Real Art. To this day it is one of the best Krazy Kats I’ve ever seen. I asked him at the time if he would consider selling it to me, but that was rebuffed, too.
Wow, great story! I was only one year old when that Sunday strip was published so Zaboly must have drawn Popeye for many years.
BTW, I also had a little Honda when I was a teenager. In fact, I still have one!
Those wacky musicians, always putting their own interpretation on stuff. Why, if it weren’t for the repartee between Olive and Popeye, I don’t think I would have guessed this had anything to do with the ol’ Sailor Man.
Ha! If you think this is irrelevant, you should hear some of the sonic treats I have lined up for future Tuesdays! You’ll really have to use your imagination to make the comics connection.
Enjoy your info on Popeye, especially since I grew up with him in the next room. My father was Tom Sims. By the way, the strip you have from your birthday was written after my father spent the weekend watching my mother working in the yard.