After parting ways with the group Virtanen, Mauri 'Moog' Konttinen put up his own group Kontravirtanen, but after one EP the name was shortened to Kontra. Contrary (;-)) to Virtanen, Kontra did mostly cover versions with the their inimitable style and with Moog's inimitable lyrics. Their secong single, and Kontras's biggest hit, in 1978 was "Jerry Cotton". It told about the FBI agent Jerry Cotton, whose escapades were read in eponymous kiosk magazine by every Finnish schoolboy in the 60's. This fictional character was born in print in Germany in 1954 and was very popular in German speaking countries. There were even 8 movies made of Jerry. The main character was played by American actor George Nader, whose name is mentioned in Kontra's song. There was also a hint about Jerry's sexual tendencies ("I care about women just formally, it's much nicer with Phil Decker"), that in a way turned out to be true - George Nader was gay ...
The original song was picked up from an underrated Kinks album 'Schoolboys In Disgrace' (1975). This Ray Davies -written concept album - and this song - told about a naughty schoolboy, who eventually would grow up to be Mr. Flash (the villain in The Kinks' rock opera, Preservation: Acts 1 & 2).
Here's the pair:
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