Rhinestone cowboy - Muukalainen oon kai

Rexi (see eaarlier entry) recorded "Muukalainen oon kai" (I may be a stranger) for his album "Parasta maailmassa" in 1983. It was released only as a album track. As was the first Finnish version by Kari Tapio. Both versions had the same arranger; Veikko Samuli. I will present Kari's version here when I get it. The original song was the Glenn Campbell classic "Rhinestone Cowboy". It was written and recorded in 1974 by songwriter/singer Larry Weiss, who had earlier written the hit "Bend Me, Shape Me". It appeared on his album "Black and Blue Suite". Neither that version, nor a cover by Neil Diamond made it in the charts. Glenn Campbell's version was released in May 1975 and later that same year it topped both the country and Hot 100 charts simultaneously. "Rhinestone Cowboy" served as the basis for the 1984 movie "Rhinestone", starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton. You can see Larry perform the song here and Glenn here.

Updated on 10.01.2011: added the original Finnish version by Kari Tapio

Here's the bunch:

Cherry Cherry - Cherry Baby

Rexi (see earlier entry) recorded "Cherry Baby" in 1977 for his album "Puhtaat purjeet". It wasn't released as a single. The lyrics were done by a fanous lyricist (we have many of those in Finland) Raul Reiman. The original song with slightly different name "Cherry, Cherry" was performed by one and only Neil Diamond. About a dozen of his songs have been versioned in Finnish, but for some reason none of them was a hit - at least not a big one. But this original song was a great success gor Neil. It reached number 6 in US Charts in 1966. Worldwide sales are said to have reached over one million copies. The song was produced by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, and they also sang background vocals. But the song was written by Neil himself.

Here's the pair:

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:

Evangelina - Eva Maria

Rexi (see previous entry) recorded a lot of songs, but somehow he newer gained any greater popularity. Perhaps he didn't stood out the crowd ... One of his many country flavoured recordings was "Eva Maria" in 1983 on his album "Parasta maailmassa". Contributing were two Finnish pop stalwarts: Raul Reiman (lyrics) and Veikko Samuli (arrangement). The original song was called "Evangelina" and it was written and performed by Hoyt Axton (finnpicked earlier, here and here ). He released the song on his 1976 albun "Fearless". Lyrics of the song tell about the girl 'Evangelina' in 'old Mexico', whereas 'Eva Maria' in the Finnish version is a waitress in a corner pub ...

Updated on 15.01.2011: added the first Finnish version "Paltamon kaunein" (1979) by Seppo Närhi, and the version by Kari Tapio ("Takamaan tyttö, 1990) both with different lyrics.

Here's the bunch:

Even The Nights Are Better - Parasta maailmassa

Rexi (real name Raimo Kero ) started his career as a musician in the 60's. He released his first (non-hit) album in 1974 with the peculiar name "Parhaat" (The Best of ..). He finally broke through in 1977 with the song "Puhtaat purjeet" (Clean sails), but it basically remained his only hit. However, he has recorded nine albums. Major part of his songs are his own compositions, but he did also many covers. Like this one - "Parasta maailmassa" (Best in the world), that was recorded in 1983. The original song "Even The Nights Are Better" is a hit from 1982 by the Australian group Air Supply. The song was especially popular in USA and reached number 5 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Air Supply was a soft rock band who had hits worldwide through the late 1970s and early 1980s. The group's line-up was ever-changing but the permanent members were the British guitarist and vocalist Graham Russell and Australian lead vocalist Russell Hitchcock.