Popeye is a live action film directed by Robert Altman which features Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall as Popeye and Olive Oyl. The film's score and songs are by Harry Nilsson. "

 

Nobody wanted him at first except Robin Williams. Everyone said "You'll get in trouble with him -- he'll get drunk; he won't do it; he's all washed up." As a matter of fact, I said all of those things about Harry to Robin myself one day. Then I went home and thought about it and said to myself, 'Jesus, that's what some people are saying about me!' So I called Harry Nilsson, because I had never met him in my life, and we got along terrifically.

-- Robert Altman.

 

Altman chose Malta as the location for filming Popeye. Harry Nilsson took the musicians to Malta where a studio was constructed for their use. The musicians dubbed themselves, "The Falcons." Ray Cooper, Doug Dillard, Harry Nilsson, Van Dyke Parks, Klaus Voormann, and "The Mysterious Karsten" recorded the basic tracks on the island as the set was finished and filming began. Van Dyke Parks arranged and conducted the music. Ray Cooper, Doug Dillard, Van Dyke Parks, and Klaus Voormann make brief appearances in the film.

 

We were stuck on that bloody island for four months and the powers-that-be have butchered the music horribly.

-- Harry Nilsson (1981)[1]


Soundtrack

 

Popeye Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album

 

 

The soundtrack album was engineered by Rick Riccio and Mike Hatcher. Harry Nilsson wrote all of the songs except for "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man". The album was released on LP and may have been briefly available as a CD in Europe.

 

Mark Guerrero, son of singer/composer Lalo Guerrero, provided background vocals for the demo of I'm Mean.

 

The New Jersey group Guitari incorporated samples of I Yam What I Yam, Sailin', and It's Not Easy Being Me, from the Popeye soundtrack album in their songs "Hero" and "I Yam What I Yam (Popeye Rap)."