Celluloid Heroes - Paperitähdet

Juice Leskinen (b. Pauli Matti Juhani Leskinen) was a contemporary and friend of yesterdays Finnpick Mikko Alatalo. They both were in the University of Tampere in the 70's and eventually co-worked in a couple of bands. Later Juice and Mikko went separate ways and both made a highly succesful career as pioneers of Finnish rock. Especially Juice is considered to be THE initiator of original Finnish rock and rock sung in Finnish language. Juice was fore and foremost a poet. His lyrics were groundbreaking, often gross, often bold but often tender, too. He was also a potent composer and arranger. He very rarely did covers, but this "Paperitähdet" (Paper stars) is an excellent exception. The lyrics tell about Finnish celebrities (naming the names) and their treatment in the media. It was recorded for "Tauko 1" -album released by Juice and his band Slam in 1978. The original song "Celluloid Heroes" was written by Ray Davies of the Kinks. It was included in their 1972 album "Everybody's in Show-Biz". The central theme of the songs lyrics is the inhumane manner in which the Hollywood movie industry exploits its stars.

Here's the pair:

Gimme Some Lovin' - Anna mulle lovee

Mikko Alatalo was a young university student when his novelty song "Mä maalaispoika oon" (I'm a Country Boy) became a huge hit in 1974. It was his own composition, as were almost all songs he has recorded. One of the exceptions to the rule was this "Anna mulle lovee" (Gimme love) in 1977. Mikko was extremely popular in the 70's and 80's writing catchy tunes to the witty lyrics of his own or of his friend Harri Rinne. His speciality was a folklore-style, jolly song that we Finns know as 'ralli'. But he recorded also many songs of more serious nature. In the 90's Mikko released highly acclaimed and successful childrens records. Since 2003 he has been a Member of Parliament. The original version of this Finnpick was called "Gimme Some Lovin'" and it was the first self-penned hit for Spencer Davis Group. in 1967. Well - almost self-penned - the basic riff of the song was borrowed from the US singer Homer Banks' song "(Ain't That) A Lot of Love" (as you can yourself hear from this Taj Majal's version). This song is ranked number 244 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Always Laughing - Mä uskon huomispäivään

The Finnish legendary lyricist Juha 'Junnu' Vainio was also a singer recording a vast amount of songs. He did very few covers. One notable example is this "Mä uskon huomispäivään" (I believe in tomorrow) in 1976. Juha started his career in the 60's presenting at first primarily novelty songs. But in the later years he chose to record more 'serious' material. This song is one of the serious ones, but not a sad one. Junnu always had more or less optimistic message in his lyrics. And this one must be the most optimistic of them all - as the title suggests: 'I believe in tomorrow'. No wonder it has always been one of his most lovable performances. Now, the original song was hard to find. I know that song was written by writer combo Chris Arnold , David Martin and Geoff Morrow. They were the producers of 70's UK vocal group Guys 'n Dolls. And the group first recorded the song in 1975 having a minor hit in some European countries. For some reason this original version is hard to come by. But - fortunately I have another 'almost original' version (in fact, it might be the one Junnu versioned). In the 70's I bought a bunch of obscure singles and one of those happened to be "Always Laughing" by Joe Brown (also recorded in 1975). When I first heard it, I immediately fell in love with it, and thought that this warm-hearted song is custom-made for Finnish taste. And I'm happy Junnu discovered this song, too. I don't know how Joe Brown came about to record the song. There's a print on the label of the single saying "adapted from 'The Story of Noss'" . I guess the song has been included in some theatrical play or TV series. Joe Brown was 60's rock'n roll star cutting some top ten hits with his group The Bruvvers. Enjoy and sing along!

Here's the pair:

Johnny Will - Kilpakosijat

On the next few days I'm going to present somet artists that rarely recoerded any cover versions, and mainly wrote their own songs. Maybe that's one of the reasons these artists became extremely popular in Finland. Let's start with Jukka Kuoppamäki , who is one of the living legends of Finnish pop music. His career began already in the end of 1950's. He was at first singing tenor in the vocal groups Neloset and Kukonpojat (see previous entries here and here) before launching a very successful solo career. After 1969 he has exclusively relied on his own material, and has done a remarkable task in writing over 1o00 songs for other artists. Many of them becoming Finnish pop classics. However, in the 60's Jukka did some covers, and one of those was on his first solo single in 1962, a song called "Kilpakosijat" (Rivals in love). The song sank without a trace and has been rarely played since. The original was performed by Pat Boone (b. Charles Eugene Boone) as "Johnny Will" in 1961. It was one of Pat's minor hits and written by Paul Evans, who was a singer himself, but gained reputation with hit songs he wrote for others. You can hear his demo version of "Johnny Will" here.

Here's the pair:

My True Carrie Love - Pieni palanen kultaa

The group Kivikasvot from yesterday's Finnpicks were not primarily a recording oufit. They concentrated in TV work. But the members of the group all cut solo tracks. Most notably Matti 'Fredi' Siitonen, but also the other three original members. One of those was Georg Dolivo who recorded two singles. This "Pieni palanen kultaa" (A small nugget of gold) was on the second one in 1964. Georg was in the vocal group Kukonpojat (see previous entry) before joining Kivikasvot. The original is a rare song by Nat 'King' Cole (b. Nathaniel Adam Coles). It was the B-side of his 1964 single. Sadly - for being a such good catchy tune - it usually is omitted from Cole's compilation albums. This must be one of his last recordings, as he died in February 1965.

Here's the pair:

Juanita Banana - Juanita Banana

And now something out of the funny side of Finnpicks. Kivikasvot (see previous entry) often recorded novelty songs, as this one from 1966 "Juanita Banana". The prominent female vocals are done by Vuokko Piironen. The original was a great hit for a group called The Peels. The Peels, was a US studio group put together by the producer and the co-writer of the song, Tash Howard. The song that the heroine in the song, Juanita, is practising, is the aria Caro Nome from Verdi’s opera Rigoletto.

Here's the pair:

Talking To The Wall - Käyntikortti

We have now picked 300 Finncovers! To end our Country Jamboree I have a great pleasure to introduce a song that has been one of my all-time faovourites. Freeman (see previous entry) - recorded "Käyntikortti" (Visiting card) in 1976 on his first album. It was also released as a single, but wasn't such a big hit. But the song has stayed in his repertoire. The touching lyrics were written by our (and Freeman's) old friend , Hector.. There was also another Finnish cover made, that I didn't know of until recently, H Band (our Finnpicks 'Artist of the Week") recorded a quite different version with a title "Yhden palstan uutinen" (One column news) on their sole album "Taival". The original song was written by Bill Chadwick He was a friend of Monkee Michael Nesmith and Monkees recorded some of his tunes. This song "Talking To The Wall" ended up on Michaels solo album "Tantamount To Treason" in 1971. When I heard the song for the first time in 1975 or 1976, I thought that this would be great song to cover in Finnish. And obviously I was not the only one ...

Here's the triple:

Meet Me In Stockholm - Me kaksi matkalla Tukholmaan

Yesterday's country cover was almost, but not quite, Tex-Mex. Today's song is definetely Tex-Mex even if it has been made in (and the lyrics tell about) Scandinavia. This song has always been my personal favourite, and I was pleasently surprised to find out that there were two Finnish covers (with different lyrics) made of it. And neither of these I had heard at the time of their releases! The first one "Me kaksi matkalla Tuktholmaan" (We two on our way to Stockholm) was done in 1983 by Eini (see previous entry), who was known as a disco queen, but succeeds very well in her interpretation of this country ballad. The second cover "Luoksesi Tukholmaan" (To meet you in Stockholm) was performed by the 'usual suspect' Kari Tapio (see previous entry) in 1991. This also is a very good version of the original song that was written and performed by Tex-Mex legend Doug Sahm (b. Douglas Wayne Sahm) He signed in 1983 with the Swedish label Sonet and recorded some singles and albums for it, and toured extensively in Europe. In my opinion this is one of the best songs Doug ever did. BTW, 'the slow boat to Helsinki town' mentioned in the lyrics, refers to the car ferries traveling on the route Stockholm-Helsinki and standing for the luxury liners that Finnish everyman can afford.

Here's the triple: