Monday, August 1, 2011

No charge - Ilman palkkaa

Well - this is a tearjerker of a song. Vocal duo Annika ja Maikki sung "Ilman palkkaa" (Without charge) in 1977. It wasn't actually a hit, but the song has become an 'underground classic'. Annika and Maikki were real-life daughter and mother Annika and Maija-Liisa ("Maikki") Metsäketo. Annika later became a popular broadcaster in Finnish private radio. The Finnish lyrics for "Ilman palkkaa" were done by the master himself, Juha Vainio. The lyrics were almost one-to-one translation of the original, a country classic "No Charge" from the year 1974, originally performed by Melba Montgomery. You can see Melba perform the song in 1998, here. Here  you can hear a 'male version' of the same song by Johnny Cash (in 1975). You might also want to see a tongue-in-cheek Finnish version from 1988, here

Here's the pair:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

tämä on kapaale, jona toimii soitettaessa 9-14v. lapselle.
Äitini soitatti sen minulle tuoreeltaan vunna 1977 ja toimii vieläkin muistoissani.