Screen grab from new animated video for the Wilco single "Dawned on Me," starring Popeye and Olive Oyl
They're strong to the finish, 'cause they eats their spinach – they're Wilco, the quirky band.
Jeff Tweedy and the Chicago alt-rockers Wilco are having fun again, blowing us down with an adorable new music video (at wilcospinach.com).
Set to the group's bouncy, sweet love song Dawned on Me, the old-fashioned cartoon features a renowned spinach-eating seaman, who faces romantic rivalry for the distracted affections of his "goil."
Olive Oyl is sweet on singer Tweedy, but is stolen away by Popeye's usual nemesis, Bluto. Relying on his go-to leafy green, the sailor with the Steve Garvey-size forearms goes all battleship on the bearded bully.
Dancing and camaraderie eventually ensue, with the band entertaining iconic characters that include the skipper-hatted infant Swee'Pea and J. Wellington Wimpy, the burger-obsessed moocher.
The black-and-white video, directed by Darren Romanelli, is apparently the first hand-drawn, frame-by-frame rendering for Popeye cell animation since 1987.
Wilco and Tweedy (who had a YouTube hit last year with his acoustic cover of the Black-Eyed Peas hit I Gotta Feeling) are gaining a reputation for offbeat fan-friendliness and creative promotion. With this delightful video, riffing on one of pop culture's most beloved love stories, the band gives its followers one more reason for their admiration.
Brad Wheeler