Angelica - Angelica

As we are today one week away from International Women's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to spend this preceding week with the songs about women. We start with "Angelica", a song that Danny recorded and released as a single in 1968. The lyrics were done by Pertsa Reponen. The song was written by famous songwriting duo Cynthia Weill and Barry Mann. The first recording of the song was done by Gene Pitney and it was released on his album "Backstage" in 1966. It was not released as a single. Which is, "Angelica" being such a wonderful piece of music, quite odd. Also Scott Walker recorded a fine version of the song on his debut album in 1967; you can listen to it, here.

Here's the pair:

24 Sycamore - 8 Kesäkuuta

Topmost (see earlier entry) recorded only 6 singles. One of those and one of their biggest hits was the cover of Procol Harum's "A Whiter Side Of Pale" released in 1967. On the B-side of that single was an often forgotten Topmost song "8. kesäkuuta" (8th of June), which was their version of Gene Pitney's hit "24 Sycamore". In the late 60's and in the 70's Gene was more popular in Europe (especially in UK) than in USA, and perhaps that's why this song was written for him by British songwriter duo Less Reed and Barry Mason. The lyrics are a bit ambiguous, and you might wonder if the "girl, the one that I just left behind at 24 Sycamore" was dead or alive ...

Here's the pair:

Quando vedrai la mia ragazza - Odota en

Ann Christine (real name Ann-Christine Nyström) was perhaps the first Finnish female modern pop singer. Her contemporaries in the start of 1960's were singing mostly 'schlagers'. But Ann Christine was a real pop girl - a 'ye-ye girl' - if you like. She recorded this "Odota en" (I will not wait) in 1964 as a b-side of her 6th single. She performed on the Eurovision contest in 1966 in Luxemborg with the song "Playboy". The original song was (again) from San Remo music festival. In 1964 festival the song "Quando vedrai la mia ragazza" (When you see my girl) was performed by Little Tony and Gene Pitney. As we already have presented Little Tony earlier, let's now listen to Gene.

Here's the pair:

Hello Mary Lou - No niin Mary Lou

Lasse Liemola was actually the first Finnish pop singer. He started his career in the end of the 50's and was the first one to sing pop songs that were especially targeted to the young people. In 1961 he recorded the song made famous by the US teen star Ricky Nelson. The Finnish title for "Hello Mary Lou" was "No niin Mary Lou" (Well, Mary Lou). Becouse everybody has heard the original version by Ricky, let's hear a little bit different version by the composer of the song, Gene Pitney. This version was cut in 1962.

Here's the pair: