Stupid Cupid - Tuttu juttu

Arja Koriseva (see earlier entry) recorded "Tuttu juttu" (A familiar story) for her debut album in 1990. This particular track was not released as a single, but the album was very popular and the sales earned her platinum in 1991. The Finnish lyrics were written by Turkka Mali, a finnpicked artist himself (see here). It's somewhat peculiar that this famous song was not covered in Finnish prior to Arja's version. The original was namely "Stupid Cupid", a massive pop hit for Connie Francis already in 1958. The song was composed by Neil Sedaka and it was chosen (by Connie herself) to be Francis' single as it was in contrast to her preceding ballad hits (most notably "Who's Sorry Now").

31 Finnpicks to go.

Here's the pair:

Baby It's You - Janoinen suu

Afer a long break we meet again The Clifters . The group recorded "Janoinen suu" (Thirsty mouth) in 1990 for their album "Humala on jumala". It was also released as a single, on the B-side of their Foudations' "Baby Now That I've Found You" cover called "Kreivi". The lyrics were, as always on their cover tunes, provided by Jaana Rinne.. The original song "Baby It's You" was composed by Burt Bacharach and producer Luther Dixon (credited as Barney Williams) and lyrics were penned by Mack David (the older brother of another famous lyricist Hal David). The legendary girl group The Shirelles had a hit with the song, reaching number 8 on the Billboard charts in February of 1962. "Baby It's You" was later recorded by The Beatles on their debut LP Please Please Me.

Here's the pair:

The Old Nickelodeon Sound - Vanhat laulut nuo

Matti Esko (see earlier entry) recorded "Vanhat laulut nuo" (Those old songs) in 1990 for his hit album "Reissumies". The lyrics depicted an old sailor reminiscing good old days. The original song was called "The Old Nickelodeon Sound" was an album track on Sailor's second - and most successful - album "Trouble" in 1975. You can see Sailor perform the song, here. Originally "nickelodeon" was the name for an early 20th century form of small neighbourhood movie theatre. But Sailor gave the name to a music instrument they developed. It was a huge two-sided synthesizer with multiple stacks of keyboards. It was used to re-create the multiple instrument sounds used in Sailor's recordings. In addition, the band had no base player, and all base parts were played by nickelodeon, thus contributing in creation of the original sound of Sailor.

Here's the pair:

Disco Bouzouki - Villi ilta

Another weekend reindez-vous with Daniel Vangarde. Arja Koriseva recorded "Villi ilta" (Wild night) in 1990 for her first album. Arja is not known for her disco songs, so this is a rare exception. The lyrics (by Turkka Mali) tell about escapades in bachelorette night. The original song "Disco Bouzouki" was written by French producers and songwriters Daniel Vangarde and Jean Kluger. It was a continental hit for a group called Bouzouki Disco Band (a.k.a Great Disco Bouzouki Band) in 1977. It was most probably a studio band put together by Vangarde and Kluger, because after one more single it vanished from the music world.

Here's the pair:

50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Tuhat tapaa päästä eroon

In 1976 two Finnish versions were made of this song. The other one was by Arto Sotavalta and the other, which we present here, was by Ami Jaara (real name Aimo Jaara). In the 60's Ami was the lead singer in the group Express, but tried solo career in the 70's. Although her was a good singer he never got big breakthrough hit. This 1976 single "Tuhat tapaa päästä eroon" (A thousand ways to get rid of) gained some attention but was not a hit. The lyrics were written by Pertsa Reponen. The song was recorded with different lyrics and with the title "50 tapaa jättää rakas" (50 ways to leave the loved one) in 1990 by Anna Hanski (see earlier entry) . This time the song became a modest success. The original was composed and performed by Paul Simon. It was written after Simon's divorce from his first wife, and the song is a mistress's humorous advice to a husband on ways to end a relationship. According to some sources, Paul made this song up while teaching his son how to rhyme. It became number one on the US Hot 100 on February 1976.

Here's the triplet:

Sugar Town - On surut makeita

Anna Hanski (see previous entry) , recorded "On surut makeita" (The sorrows are sweet) in 1990 and it was released as single. The success was modest, Anna's major breakthrough was still to come (in 1992 with "Jos et sä soita"). The song however is a showcase of Anna's intimate singing style. The original was called "Sugar Town" and it was written by Lee Hazlewood and performed of course by Nancy Sinatra. "Sugar Town" was released in USA in 1966 and the single reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was featured also in 1967 TV special: Movin' With Nancy. The B-side to "Sugar Town" was the legendary Nancy & Lee duet "Summer Wine". That was also covered by Anna, and we hear it here in Finnpicks in the near future.

Here's the pair: