Sloop John B - Hurja vaari

Finntrio (see earlier entry) sang about "Hurja vaari" (Outrageus grandpa) in 1964 to Juha Vainio's lyrics. It was relased as a single but wasn't a hit at all. The covered song was old Bahamian traditional song "The John B. Sails" that has been covered by numerous artists; Weavers, Kingston Trio, Jimmie Rodgers, and most notably, the Beach Boys. I guess the version that Finntrio covered was that of Kingston Trio. It appeared on their 1958 LP "The Kingston Trio". The "John B." was an old sponger boat whose crew were in the habit of getting notoriously merry whenever they made port. It was wrecked and sunk at Governor's Harbour in Eleuthera, The Bahamas, in about 1900. You can see Kingston Trio perform the song in 2005, here.

Here's the pair:

Silence Is Golden - Hiljaa vain ollaan

Finntrio was one of the prominent groups in Finnish folk movement in the 60's. The original members were Vesa Nuotio, Pertti Reponen and Tapio Kyöstilä. They did their first public performance and first single in 1964. The first recordings of the group were pure folk, but after 1967 they cut mainly pop sides. Pertti Reponen left the group already in 1964 and became later one of the Finlands leading pop lyricists. Finntrio recorded "Hiljaa vain ollaan" (We're just being silent) in 1967. The song was the cover of "Silence Is Golden", a worldwide hit for the British band The Tremeloes. The original was however done by the US masters Four Seasons as the B-side of their number one hit "Rag Doll" in 1964. The song was co-written by Bob Gaudio of the band, and their producer Bob Crewe. The phrase "Silence Is Golden" is an encouragement to silence, which comes from a Swiss German inscription "Sprechen ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden" (speech is silver, silence is golden).

Here's the pair: