Thursday, November 12, 2009

Putti Putti - Putti putti


At the time this song was recorded nobody would call it "bubblegum", but that's what it was. Kai Lind was a member in the most famous Finnish vocal group Four Cats (see earlier entry). In the beginning of 60's he launched also a succesful solo career. "Putti putti" was released as single in 1961. The originals song was written and performed by New Zealand -born Jay Epae (b. Nicholas Epae). He emigrated to USA in 1957 and tried to make it as a professional boxer. But after some injuries he turned to pop music. "Putti Putti" was on the b-side of his first single released in 1960. It didn't sell in USA but became big hit in Scandinavia, mainly becouse the freshly started (March 1961) pirate radio station Radio Nord kept playing it, and, of course, becouse the lyrics (in maori language) sounded so funny. Here you can see Vesa-Matti Loiri (see earlier finnpick) performing a parody version of the song in TV.

Here's the pair:

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Thanks for the beautiful music. I love collecting covers of well known songs from all over the world.
How can I contact you? I'm looking for a number of Finnish covers of La Golondrina. I know titles and artists but can not find the songs. Can you help me out?

Regards
Machteld

DM said...

Thank you for your kind words. Golondrina has been covered with at least 3 different Finnish lyrics. Perhaps the most known is the first version by Seija Lampila in 1960, which was called "Pääskynen" (The swallow). Unfortunately I don't have that version (or, in fact any other version) of Golondrina. But I' ll try to keep that in mind and catch one when I find one.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for trying to catch Finnish versions of La Golondrina when you happen to encounter them.

I found that (at least) the following versions exist:

Pääskynen (Finnish lyrics) - 1960 Seija Lampila
Pääskynen (Finnish lyrics) - 1981 Viihdekuoro Kauhavan
Pääskynen (Finnish lyrics) - 1999 Arja Havakka
Pääskynen (Finnish lyrics) - 1997 (other lyrics) Eino Grön
Pääskynen (Finnish Instrumental?) - 1947 Georg Grossberg
Nyt varma oon (Finnish lyrics) - Kari Jalkanen (1999)
Pääsky (Finnish lyrics) - Volpi Leuto (1929)
Kun kesä on (Finnish lyrics) - Susanna Lönnberg (1971) (lyrics by Orvokki Valkama Tuula )
Kun kesä on (Finnish lyrics) - Nuoriso Halkosaaren -Orkesteri (1981)
La golondrina (Finnish lyrics?) - Tuntematon 1982
La golondrina (Finnish lyrics?) - Hietanen Pentti 1998

That are quite a few :-)

Best wishes
Machteld

pgh said...

Do not forget the summer-version line of " La Golondrina" either.

It was a big hit in Sweden in 1970 by young " Anita Hegerland" under the title " Mitt Sommarlov" - the finnish translation of that was done another young girl , our own Finnish " Susanna Nio" under the title " Kun Kesä On".
Since that it has been a regular cover of children's song contests.

Anonymous said...

I know and have (mp3) the Anita Hegerland version.
I'll add Susanna Nio" under the title " Kun Kesä On" to my wish list.
Thank you.

pgh said...

I Just added Susanna Nio's version on one of My YouTube Channels (seventiesghost).
It's the only one there on Tube - just search and listen.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much, Pgh, I found it!! She sounds a lot younger than the girl on the pictures ....

Hopefully I'll find more versions in the future.

Regards, Machteld