This blog will feature Finnish pop music covers and their original versions mainly from '60s and '70s.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Mendocino - Iivantiiraan
The original of today's finnpick was one my absolute favourites in the 60's. The Finnish version "Iivantiiraan" was made in 1997 by a group called Highway, and released on their mini-CD "Seitsemättä päivää ...". It contained also another Doug Sahm cover ("She's About A Mover"). Not much is known about the group Highway, but Iivantiira is a tiny village (50 households) in the eastern-most Finland, in Kuhmo commune. The original of today's finnpick was called "Mendocino" and it was moderate hit for tex-mex band Sir Douglas Quintet in 1968. The song was written by the band's leader Doug Sahm, who is considered as one of the most important figures in Tejano music (or Tex-Mex music). After Sir Douglas Quintet he formed, together with Augie Meyers, Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez, the famous Texas Tornados. Mendocino is a small town in California. The town's name comes from Cape Mendocino, named by early Spanish navigators in honor of Antonio de Mendoza, who commissioned the expedition of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to explore the western coastline of California in 1542-43. You can see Doug Sahm perform "Mendocino" live, here.
Hmm.. Highway was a small band from Kuhmo. We released a single for Finndisc im 1980, Bob Segers Get out of Denver on side A. "Ei kantsi jäädä Kuhmoon". We were quite Ok rock'n roll band but not so good in writing own music, therefore I tried to "localize" covers . Like Green River->,Oulujoki etc. I was just a young lad then and did not know too much about Mendocino, but got an impression that it was some kind of "not LA" and got a tweaky idea to pick one of the small villages from the backwoods and localize the story there. I tried to make a joke but ended up to write a livesong to my poor, dedolated hometown. BR Markku Tuominen PS. People in Iivantiira still love it.
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Hmm.. Highway was a small band from Kuhmo. We released a single for Finndisc im 1980, Bob Segers Get out of Denver on side A. "Ei kantsi jäädä Kuhmoon". We were quite Ok rock'n roll band but not so good in writing own music, therefore I tried to "localize" covers . Like Green River->,Oulujoki etc. I was just a young lad then and did not know too much about Mendocino, but got an impression that it was some kind of "not LA" and got a tweaky idea to pick one of the small villages from the backwoods and localize the story there. I tried to make a joke but ended up to write a livesong to my poor, dedolated hometown. BR Markku Tuominen PS. People in Iivantiira still love it.
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