North to Alaska - Kohti Alaskaa

We now leave California and head for "whitier pastures". Tapio Rautavaara recorded "Kohti Alaskaa" (To Alaska) in 1961 together with vocal group Neloset. It was on the flipside of earlier finnpicked song "Kylmää vettä" (see here). The Finnish lyrics were written by Sauvo Puhtila. The original song was called "North to Alaska" and it was  featured in the 1960 movie "North to Alaska", starring John Wayne.It was performed by Johnny Horton, an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs".

Here's the pair:

El Paso - El Paso

Next stop in Finnpicks Grand Tour of USA is El Paso, Texas. Tapani Rautavaara - with vocal group Neloset - recorded "El Paso" in 1960, and it was released as a single on the flipside of "Toverukset" (see earlier entry). Reino Helismaa, who was especially famous for his western songs, provided the Finnish lyrics. The original "El Paso" was written and performed by Marty Robbins, and was first released on his album "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" in 1959. It was released as a single, and became a major hit on both the country and pop music charts, reaching number one in both at the start of 1960. It won the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording in 1961. Marty's western ballads were eagerly covered in Finland (one example is here). The Texan city of El Paso stands on the Rio Grande, across the border from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The two cities form a combined international metropolitan area, sometimes called Juarez-El Paso.


Here's the pair:

The Ways Of A Woman In Love - Kun ei niin ei

Tapio Rautavaara had a voice that suited well for country songs. And he also did record several conuntry & western covers. One of them was this "Kun ei niin ei" (When it's no, it's no) that he recorded in collaboration with vocal group Neloset in 1962. The lyrics were done by Tapio himself. Also Rauli Badding Somerjoki did later another Finnish version of the song. You can hear it here. The original was called "The Ways Of A Woman In Love" and it was written by Charlie Rich and made popular by another country legend Johnny Cash in 1958. You can see him perform the song in this rare filmclip from that particular year.

Here's the pair:

Partners - Toverukset

Tapio Rautavaara (see earlier entry) recorded "Toverukset" (Comrades) in 1960 with vocal group Neloset (see earlier entry). The song suits well to Tapio's manly voice, and the lyrics, too. It tells about the search of gold, partnership and greediness. As did the original, a country song named "Partners" (lyrics here), that was a lesser known song of famous US pop and country singer Jim Reeves. Known as Gentleman Jim, his songs have continued to chart again and again after his death at the age of 40 in a airplane crash in 1964.

Here's the pair:

Five Brothers - Viisi veljestä

Tapio Rautavaara (see earlier entry) recorded several country & western songs. On of those was his 1961 single "Viisi veljestä" (Five brothers). The original song was written by Tompall Glaser (of Glaser Brothers) and made popular by Marty Robbins. It was on his legendary "Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs" album and released also as a single. Although it was only on the B-side. "Five Brothers" is a true old Western song with a great storyline (lyrics here) that surprisingly never made the top of the Country music chart in USA, even though it reached 74 in the Pop chart.

Here's the pair:

Cool Water - Kylmää vettä

Now we meet for the first time in Finnpicks, a true Finnish legend, Tapio Rautavaara. Rautavaara was a Finnish master athlete, singer and movie actor. He won the Olympic Gold Medal in the javelin throw at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. And later in his career he won the gold medal in the Finnish archery team in World Championships of 1958. Since 1940's Tapio had also played in several movies and reorded hudreds of songs. His songs were mainly of Finnish origin, but he did some covers, too - often on country & western songs. This is one of those. Tapio recorded "Kylmää vettä" (Cold water) in 1961 with vocal group Neloset (see earlier entry). The original was country classic "Cool Water", a song written by Bob Nolan, founder member of The Sons of the Pioneers. This group also recorded the original and best-selling version of the song in 1948. The lyrics of the song tell about a man and his mule, Dan, and a mirage in the desert.

Here's the pair: