What's this non-English version of "He Needs Me?"

May 28, 2008 12:03 PM

What's this foreign-language version of a song from Harry Nilsson's soundtrack to Robert Altman's Popeye?

So I came across some demo versions of the Popeye soundtrack. In addition to Nilsson's demo for "He Needs Me" (a song which may also be familiar to those of you who saw Punch Drunk Love) there's a version of the song in a foreign language (French? Spanish? Italian?), with interjections by someone doing a grizzled, devilish voice that's straight out of Rudimentary Peni's Cacophony.

Where is this track from? What language is it in? Who sings it? And what's with the scary-sounding devil man?

posted by jtron to media & arts (4 comments total)

Sounds Spanish to me. And freaky!
posted by otherwordlyglow at 12:27 PM on May 28, 2008

And it sounds like it was on the original demo for the soundtrack. So is that Harry doing the Popeye part?
posted by otherwordlyglow at 12:30 PM on May 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yep, Spanish. And yeah, the male voice on there appears to be doing the Popeye part.

Man, that song has haunted my brain for decades. I inexplicably sing it to myself when I drive sometimes...
posted by miss lynnster at 12:43 PM on May 28, 2008

OK, so we've got the language, and with that, I was able to find out that it's credited as "He Needs Me (Spanish)" on some of the internet-available versions of the demos - but who did the female vocal? I'm pretty sure Joanna Newsom does not have a time machine.
posted by jtron at 2:11 PM on May 28, 2008