Popeye The Sailor (animated Cartoons) - Music and Theme Song

Music and Theme Song

Popeye's signature theme song was composed by Sammy Lerner and premiered in the first Popeye cartoon in 1933. Cartoon music historian Daniel Goldmark notes that Popeye is one of few cartoon characters of the time to have a theme: Disney/Warner Bros. composer Carl Stalling and MGM's Scott Bradley disliked themes and phased them out quickly. For the first few cartoons, the opening-credits music consisted of an instrumental of "The Sailor's Hornpipe," followed by a vocal variation on "Strike Up the Band (Here Comes a Sailor)," substituting the words "for Popeye the Sailor" in the latter phrase. "I Yam What I Yam" was used as the theme song for further cartoons. Goldmark divides the Popeye theme into two parts: the sailor horn pipe and the lyrical portion. The opening horn pipe can be dated back to the 1700s and further as a traditional sea shanty. Winston Sharples and Sammy Timberg composed most of the music for Popeye shorts. Timberg composed the themes to the Fleischers' Betty Boop and Superman cartoons, but asked Lerner to write Popeye's theme song because he had a date that night.

The music of Popeye is described as a mix of "sunny show tunes and music from the street." Being located in Manhattan on Broadway, the Fleischers were well-placed for popular music developments in the 1930s. Director Eric Goldberg notes a very urban feel to the music of Popeye, reflecting "the type of cartoons they were making." The Fleischers were big fans of jazz and would approach local jazz musicians to work on the cartoons, most of which were more than happy to oblige. The use of jazz and very contemporary popular music highlighted how audiences were fascinated by new music. Tight on a budget, the producers took advantage of their free access to the Paramount music library, including hit songs that would be introduced in feature films. Many cartoons, such as It's the Natural Thing to Do (1939), take their titles from popular songs of the time. Staff songwriters would also write original songs for the shorts, such as in 1936's Brotherly Love and I Wanna Be a Lifeguard; the studio would hire outside songwriters to compose originals in addition. With the onset of World War II, the music in Popeye became more lush, fully orchestrated and patriotic.

For generations, the iconic Popeye theme song became an instantly recognizable musical bookmark, further propelling the character's stardom.