Don't Do It Baby - Ethän tee niin

Today's finnpick is similar to the one we presented yesterday; a song from international hit act whose Finnish cover for some reason was not at all successful. Aaron (see earlier entry) recorded "Ethän tee niin" (Don't do it, won't you) in 1975 together with a mystery lady called Chrisse. I suspect that the she was Chrisse Johansson, who provided also Finnish lyrics sor the song. If so, this should have been the one and only recording that she contributes as a singer. As a lyricist she is one of the most productive in Finland, lyics of hundreds and hundreds of Finnish pop songs are credited to her. The original song that Aaron and Chrisse covered was performed by famous UK pop group The Rubettes. "Don't Do It Baby" was on their 2nd album"We Can Do It". Rubettes was assembled in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington, after their 1950s American pop-influenced songs had been rejected by a number of existing acts. The trademark of the band was wearing white suits and cloth caps on stage.

Here's the pair:

La suite de ma vie - Lämmin ajatus

Aaron (see earlier entry) sang about "Lämmin ajatus" (A warm thought) in 1976 to the lyrics of Chrisse Johansson. It was released as a single, on the other side of which was his version of Luxembourg's ESC entry of that year "Chansons pour ceux qui s'aiment". The single wasn't a hit but at least this side should have been. The original was of French origin. The song "La suite de ma vie" (The walk of my life) was written by Eric Charden and performed by him and his singing partner Annie Gautrat. They were known as Stone & Charden, and they were very popular in French speaking Europe in the 70's. They have been finnpicked before, here.

Here's the pair:

Brandy - Mandy - Leena

This is the song about Brandy (aka Mandy) who was re-christened (by lyricist Vexi Salmi) to "Leena" in the Finnish version. It was done by a singer named Aaron (real name Aaro Laukkonen). He has made a long career in pop business, but has never really broken through. That's kind of shame, because he has voice talent, as you can hear in this song from the year 1975 from his album "Miten ois?". The song song was also versioned by Kai Hyttinen in the same year (I present it here, if I got hold of it). The original lady was "Brandy" by name and a American singer-songwriter Scott English co-wrote and sung the song in 1971, and it was a minor hit in UK (perhaps due to his sirname ;-)) climbing to number 12 in UK Charts. But the worldwide fame for the song came when Barry Manilow recorded in 1974 as a slow tempo ballad. In the three years between English's 1971 recording and Manilow's, Looking Glass had a hit song with "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" in 1972. Therefore, to avoid confusion, Manilow changed the title to "Mandy". It turned out to be Barry's first hit.

Here's the triplet: