Spinach Power -- Popeye the Sailor Man

 

Over the time of the blog, I believe I've mentioned that I grew up watching cartoons such as anything from Disney, Peanuts and Warner Brothers. I also have to say that "Popeye the Sailor Man" can be included. Even before I could actually eat the iron-rich vegetable, I got to know Popeye and his love for spinach along with the rest of his gang including Olive Oyl and Wimpy. And of course, there is that famous theme song by Sammy Lerner and Danny Long.

In the disco era of the 1970s, I knew that some of the older songs were getting disco-fied such as the "Star Wars" theme and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5". So it was no surprise to find out that the "Popeye" theme got its treatment of boppy bass and silky strings. But this time, it was on the Japanese side of things that a disco version of Popeye's theme was made.

You can thank Spinach Power（スピニッヂ・パワー）for the disco take on that theme, and what better group to take that on but a band whose name exemplifies everything the sailor stands for. Released as the band's first single in September 1978, of course, the main chorus is in there but there is also a driving disco part which had me wondering how people danced to that. 

Tetsuo Nishihama（西濱哲男）was on vocals while fellow Spinach Power member Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）and City Pop singer Yumi Murata（村田有美）were helping out on chorus. Apparently, veteran producer Daiko Nagato's（長戸大幸）introduction to the legendary comic book character was the impetus behind the making of the song, according to J-Wiki.