50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Tuhat tapaa päästä eroon

In 1976 two Finnish versions were made of this song. The other one was by Arto Sotavalta and the other, which we present here, was by Ami Jaara (real name Aimo Jaara). In the 60's Ami was the lead singer in the group Express, but tried solo career in the 70's. Although her was a good singer he never got big breakthrough hit. This 1976 single "Tuhat tapaa päästä eroon" (A thousand ways to get rid of) gained some attention but was not a hit. The lyrics were written by Pertsa Reponen. The song was recorded with different lyrics and with the title "50 tapaa jättää rakas" (50 ways to leave the loved one) in 1990 by Anna Hanski (see earlier entry) . This time the song became a modest success. The original was composed and performed by Paul Simon. It was written after Simon's divorce from his first wife, and the song is a mistress's humorous advice to a husband on ways to end a relationship. According to some sources, Paul made this song up while teaching his son how to rhyme. It became number one on the US Hot 100 on February 1976.

Here's the triplet:

Kodachrome - Kameramies

Anna Hanski released her second album "Syksyiset unet" in 1991. One of the covers on that album was "Kameramies" (Camera man). The original "Kodachrome" was written and performed by Paul Simon on his 1973 album "There Goes Rhymin' Simon ". It was also released as a single and it was a hit in USA but not in England, partly because BBC rarely played it. The BBC had very strict rules about commercial endorsements, and they would not allow stations to play songs that seemed to push products. Kodachrome is a registered trademark of the Kodak company. It is a method of color transparency.

Updated on 18.09.2010: added the first Finnish version "Mustavalkoista" (Black and white) by Aaron.

Here's the triplet:

Red Rubber Ball - Punainen kuu

One of the lesser known Finnish 'trucker songs' is "Punainen kuu" (Red moon) that Rexi (see earlier entry) recorded in 1977. It was released on his "Puhtaat purjeet" -album. The lyrics and arrangements were done by two known professionals, Raul Reiman and Jori Sivonen respectively. There's no moon in the original song "Red Rubber Ball"; the 'ball' is the sun ("The mornin' sun is shinin' like a red rubber ball") The song is in a way extraordinary, becouse it seems to be the only Paul Simon song that Simon & Garfunkel didn't record themselves at the time. The song became a big hit (number 2 in the Billboard Hot 100) in the 1966 as a version recorded by US band The Cyrkle. They had one other Top 20 hit and faded quickly out of fame, disbanding in 1967. "Red Rubber Ball" was actually co-written by Paul Simon and Bruce Woodley of The Seekers. And The Seekers also recorded it for their 1966 album Come the Day. We present here the Cyrkle's hit version and a rare live version by Simon & Garfunkle, with Art Garfunkel commenting on the song in the introduction.

Updated on 18.09.2009: Added Seekers' version

Here's the quadruplet: