Darla dirla dada - Dirlanda

The song "Dirlanda" must be one of the most requested tunes in Finnish karaoke bars. It was recorded by Kai Hyttinen in 1972. Kai was one Finland's most popular artists in the end of the 60's and throughout the 70's. His version of the song tells a joyful story about a girl - with the "form of Venus" - in the Greek city of Rhodes, very popular tourist site for Finns. The boy in the song doesn't speak Greek, but he still wants to sing a song for the girl. So he uses the sounds of the sea waves as lyrics, as those were the sounds he heard when he first met the girl.
The original 'modern' version of the song however tells a sad story about a woman drowning herself, and the last thing she hears is the sea water singing 'Darla dirla dada'. This version - totally in different mood than the Finnish version - was recorded by legendary French singer Dalida in 1970. The song originally is a Greek folk song first recorded (and sometimes credited as composer) by a Greek sponge diver named Pandelis Ghinis. The purpose of the song was to encourage sponge divers and to give the rhythm while oaring. Also there the sound of sea water is undoubtedly present.

Updated on 14.11.2009: Added the original Pandelis Ghinis recording. Dirlada is a sponge divers song from Kalymnos island. It's career started when Domna Samiou, the Greek folklore music legend, discovered Pandelis Ghinis, a sponge diver's boat captain, who sung it on a very special way and recorded it. The lyrics of the song are made by Ghinis and mainly describe what he and his men would do with the wifes and daughters of other sponge diver boat captains ...

Here's the pair: