Souvenirs - Matkamuistoja

As I kind of promised yesterday, here's another FInnish cover of Barbara Evans' song. Tuula Siponius recorded "Matkamuistoja" (Souvenirs) in 1960. It was released as a single and on an epnymous EP. Tuula started her singing career very young, performing in the popular children radio programme of 'Uncle Markus' when she was five. She had a couple of hits in the late 50's but never really broke through. As in the original song, also the Finnish lyrics dealt with collecting memorabilia of the celebrities. On those days It was very rare to name the names of real living people in the lyrics of a pop song. The original Barbara Evans song "Souvenirs" was released in 1959 and although it never teached Billboard Hot 100 charts in USA, it became very popular in Europe through several local language versions.

Here's the pair:

Charlie Wasn't There - Villestäin vain selän näin

Pirkko Mannola recorded "Villestäin vain selän näin" (I saw only the backside of my Ville) in 1961. It was on the B-side of a Buck Owens cover. The Finnish lyrics for this happy-go-lucky song were written by Kari Tuomisaari. Althousgh Pirkko was quite popular at the time, this particular single wasn't a hit. The original tune was called "Charlie Wasn't There" and it was a minor US hit for here in Finland lesser known songstress Barbara Evans. Barbara scored one very big hit with "Souvenirs" (which is also covered in Finnish, maybe I could find it for tomorrow's finnpick :-)) This "Charlie" song was written by famous songwriting duo Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss.

Here's the pair: