El Lute - El Lute

We have presented recently various Finnish female artists whose recording careers were short and unsuccessful. Well, here's another one. Jaana (real name Jaana Hermunen) recorded a couple of singles and although this "El Lute" was played frequently on the radio in 1980, the chart success avoided her. The excellent lyrics were written by Vexi Salmi. The original "El Lute" originated from Germany. The song that Jaana covered was a worldwide hit for Boney M in 1979, but the original German language version was sung by Michael Holm. You can see him perform the song, here. The "El Lute" of the song was a Spanish criminal Eleuterio Sánchez Rodríguez, who at one time was listed as Spain's "Most Wanted" criminal (much like *Ma Baker' in another Bomey M hit). He became a legendary outlaw who escaped several times from prison after being convicted and sentenced to 30 years for murder. While in prison, he learned to read, earned a law degree, and wrote a best-selling book. He was pardoned and released in 1981, at the age of 39. Although this happened in Spain under Franco regime, he was not a freedom fighter and his crimes were not of political nature. So, the lyrics in all of the song versions are over-romanticized in large scale. During a promotional visit in Spain, Boney M met him and gave him a golden record for the sales of the single. You can see Boney M perform the "El Lute" song, here.

Here's the pair: