Yellow Moon - Puolikuu

Vilperin Perikunta (see earlier entry) recorded "Puolikuu" (Half Moon) in 1992. It was released on their album "Gloria Vilperum". The Finnish lyrics (by band member Arvid Vilperi, a.k.a Ari Varjus) tell about a man's insomnia and his cheating wife. The original "Yellow Moon" was the title track of the 1989 album by the Neville Brothers. It was also released as a single and was one of the groups biggest hits. The song was written by two of the brothers, Aaron and Joel. The main theme of the lyrics was: "Yellow moon, can you tell me, if the girl's with another man?". You can see the band perform the song, here - with Herbie Hancock and John Hiatt.

Here's the pair:

End Of The Line - Oolrait

The fun loving pop group Vilperin Perikunta (see earlier entry) recorded "Oolrait" (Alright) for their 1992 debut album "Gloria vilperum". This modern classic pop song was originally performed by Vilperin Perikunta's namesake Traveling Wilburys and written by the whole group (here's the official composer list: Dylan Robert - Harrison George - Lynne Jeff - Orbison Roy Kelton - Petty Thomas Earl). It features all the Wilburys, except Dylan, as lead singers; Harrison, Lynne and Orbison sing the chorus in turn, while Petty sings the verses. It was released as a single, eventually peaking only at number 63 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Here's the pair:

Dirty Old Town - Viiden sillan maa

Like daughter like father. Yesterday we had Kirsty MacColl covered, now we have her father. The group Vilperin Perikunta (Heirs of Vilperi) recorded "Viiden sillan maa" (Land of five bridges) on their 1992 debut album "Gloria Vilperum". It was also released as a B-side of their first big hit single "Tervetuloa länteen, Andrej" (cover of "Down Under"). Vilperin Perikunta's name is an obvious tribute to Traveling Wilburys, and - just as in Wilburys - all the band members travel with surname Vilperi. Their songs are usually infested with comic and novelty ingredients, but some are 'almost serious', like this "Viiden sillan maa". The original song "Dirty Old Town" was written by Ewan MacColl, a famous British folk singer and songwriter (and father of Kirsty). The song was written already in the 40's in reference to Salford, a city in Lancashire, and the place where Ewan MacColl was brought up. And a city where both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels spent time, studying the plight of the British working class. It was hard to find an original version of "Dirty Old Town", so we present here a later version performed by Ewan and Peggy Seeger (another British folk legend). Additionally, we give you the perhaps most known version, done by the Irish pop/folk group Pogues.

p.s. Starting tomorrow Finnpicks goes religious (whatever that may mean), for a few days ...

Here's the triplet:


You can see a selection of some hand-picked Youtube videos of today's Finnpick song by playing my shared playlist in tuberadio.fm.

Acapulco Goldie - Akapulkon kulta

Another Shel Silverstein song, this time performed by the Finnish band (The Heirs of Wilbury), whose name paid homage to Travelling Wilburys. They were quite popular in the 90's presenting almost exclusively novelty songs. They recorded several albums and singles, and originated from the town of Turku. They used the (in)famous Turku dialect in some of their songs, like in the beginning of this "Vilperin PerikuntaAkapulkon kulta" (Akapulko gold) on their first album in 1992. The lyrics http://lirama.net/song/201607 are almost direct translation of those in the original "Acapulco Goldie". It was from the same Dr. Hook album - "Belly Up" - as yesterday's Finnpick. The "Goldie" in the song is a hooker, or 'puta', as she's called in the spanish-speaking Mexico.

Here's the pair: