Little Boxes - Laatikkoon, laatikkoon

Brita Koivunen and Eino Virtanen were both popular as solo singers in the 50's and at the start of 60's, but they also recorded several successful songs together as a duo called Brita & Eikka. This "Laatikkoon. laatikkoon" (Into the box, into the box) was on their sole album "Brita & Eikka" released in 1966. They were absolutely not part of the protest song movement of the time, but this song has pretty sharp lyrics provided by Pertsa Reponen (yes, him again). For some reason this song has been credited to Eino Virtanen, but he did only the arrangement and the original was written and performed by American folk legend Malvina Reynolds in 1962 It became a small chart hit for her friend Pete Seeger in 1963. The song is a political satire about the development of suburbia and associated conformist middle-class attitudes. It refers to suburban housing as "little boxes", all made out of "ticky-tacky", and which all look just the same. The "ticky-tacky" is a reference to the material of inferior quality (but designed to simulate better quality material) used in the construction of houses. Brita & Eikka probably got their inspiration from the version of their Danish counterparts Nina & Frederik, who were quite popular in Europe and in Finland at the time.

Here's the triplet:

Goodness Gracious Me - Voi hyvä tavaton

Brita Koivunen (see previous entry) and Eino Virtanen were both singers in their own right, but recorded also many duets together. Most of those were novelty songs, like this "Voi hyvä tavaton" (Oh goodness gracious), released as a single in 1961. It is a story of a male doctor, a female patient and a heart that goes 'boom-boudy, boom-boudy, boom, boom, boom'. The song was at the same time covered also by Finnish actors Maikki Länsiö and Esa Saario, and I remember their version beíng the more popular one. The original song was recorded in 1960 in order to promote the movie "The Millionairess", a 1960 romantic comedy film set in London, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Peter Sellers (The Doctor) and Sophia Loren (The Millionairess) . The song "Goodness Gracious Me" was performed by the leading actors. It became a considerable hit (at least in UK), which is no wonder, becouse the song is marvellous, and the actors deliver it with impeccable charm. Peter Sellers (real name Richard Henry Sellers) is not much of a singer but Sophia Loren (real name Sofia Villani Scicolone) has a very nice voice and has she has recorded well over two dozen songs.

Here's the pair: