Gimme Dat Ding - Gimme Dat Ding

We leave now the 'death songs' and here's something completely different. The group Finlanders recorded "Gimme Dat Ding" in 1986 for their album "Haave nainen". Finlanders is a very popular Finnish dance band, formed in the 80's and still going strong. They're playing mainly Finnish schlager songs but some pop covers fit in nicely in their repertoire. The original "Gimme Dat Ding" was a novelty hit for the duo The Pipkins. They were Roger Greenaway (the 'dirty-old-man' voice), best known as a songwriter, and Tony Burrows (the high-pitched voice), a singer who at time fronted such groups as Edison Lighthouse, The Flower Pot Men and The White Plains. The song reached number 6 in the UK Singles Charts and number 9 on the US charts in 1970. The song was written by another famous duo Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. You can read more of the background of the song, here.

35 Finnpicks to go.

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Bad Time - Ei ole aikaa

Bikini recorded "Ei ole aikaa" (There's no time) in 1986. It was released as a single, but, undeservedly, it went nowhere. I don't know much about Bikini. It was a three-piece group (judging by the cover picture on the sleeve of the single), who released this one single and one subsequent album in 1987. Most of their material was self-written, but apart from today's finnpick, they covered also Jay Ferguson's "Thunder Island". The original version of "Ei ole aikaa" was called "Bad Time" and it was a smash hit for the American band Grand Funk Railroad. GFR was a highly succesful rock group in USA in the 70's. The band's name is a word-play of the railroad line "Grand Trunk Western Railroad",that ran through their home town of Flint, Michigan. "Bad Time" was on their 1975 album "All the Girls in the World Beware!!!", and when released as a single, became their last Top 10 hit. The song was written by group's lead vocalist Mark Farner. 

48 Finnpicks to go.

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My Toot Toot - Tuut Tuut

Anita Hirvonen recorded "Tuut Tuut" in 1986 for his album "Anna aikaa rakkaudelle". It was also released as a single but - for some reason - Anita didn't score with it. The original song "My Toot Toot" was written and first recorded by an American R&B, zydeco, and soul musician Sidney Simien aka Rockin' Sidney. He began recording in the late 1950s, but his big moment came in 1984 when "My Toot Toot" made him internationally known. Sidney released it on his third album "My Zydeco Shoes Got the Zydeco Blues". "My Toot Toot" became a national and international million-selling hit and it was the first zydeco record to get major airplay on pop, rock and country radio stations. You can see Sidney perform the song, here. American R&B and soul singer Denise LaSalle made a version (that must have inpired Anita), and made the UK Singles Chart reaching number 6. You can hear her version, here.

Here's the pair:

Marlena - Marleena

The beauty queen and singer Armi Aavikko recorded "Marleena" in 1986. It was relesed on Danny's album "Danny Ninja" on which Armi performed as a guest artist. It wasn't a success story at the time, which is sad, becouse it got that certain kind of appeal. The original "Marlena" was of German origin. The writers of the song, Wolfgang Jass and Wolf-Eckehardt Stein wrote many hits for Geman pop and dicso artists. One of the best known of their compositios is "Sun Of The Jamaica", which was a massive hit for Goombay Dance Band. And this song "Marlena" was one of the groups lesser known singles in 1985. Goombay Dance Band was formed by German singer Oliver Berndt (b. Jörg Knoch),.The band is named after a small bay on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia., where Oliver stayed in the 70's.

Here's the pair:

'39 - '39

Neumann (see earlier entry) was bold enough to cover Queen. On his first solo Album "Albion" (1986) was this "'39". It was of course a cover of the song of the same from Queen's classic "A Night At The Opera" album released in 1975. It was Brian May's composition and the song's lyrics tell about an astronaut who travels to a distant place at near the speed of light. Because of the time dilation that takes place, he returns home 100 years later, but he has aged only a year but his wife has long passed on and he is about the same age as his grandchildren.

Here's the pair:

For My Lady - Naiselleni

Pertti Nieminen - better known as Neumann - was the lead singer in the legendary Finnish pop group Dingo. During his solo career he in 1986 recorded "Naiselleni" (For my woman). It was a considerable success, not only becouse of Neumann's Dingo-based fame but also on the count of the beautiful melody and the lyrics written by Neumann himself. It also remained as his biggest solo hit. Neumann is still actively performing with a new line-up of Dingo. The original song was performed by The Moody Blues and was written by group-member and flautist Ray Thomas. It was first released on the 1972 album Seventh Sojourn and later released on the B-side of the single "I'm Just a Singer" in 1973. The song prominently features Ray Thomas on the flute and lead vocals. BTW, The Moody Blues can only perform the song live when they are backed by a live orchestra, since Ray Thomas cannot sing and play the flute at the same time.

Here's the pair:

L'amour en heritage - Rakkaus

We end this "Love" -mini series with the song entitled simply "Rakkaus" (Love). It was recorded by Lea Laven (real name Lea Luukinen) in 1986. Lea's specialty is her dark and low voice. She started her career in the end of 60's doing mainly rock gigs. Her big breakthrough came in 1974 when her cover of Cher's "Dark Lady" that was a huge hit in Finland. During her 40 years in business she has been awarded 1 Platinum and 7 Gold Records for album sales. The original song "Only Love", or "L'amour en heritage" (Love in heritage), was composed by famous French composer Vladimir Cosma and made to an international hit by Nana Mouskouri. Nana was born as Ioanna Mouskhouri in Crete, Greece and has sold over 230 million records worldwide in a career spanning over 5 decades, making her one of the world's best-selling female recording artists. In 1985 Mouskouri recorded "Only Love", the theme song to the BBC TV series "Mistral's Daughter". The song topped the UK charts and was also a hit for Nana in its foreign language versions. As the composer is French, we present here the French version.

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Bez Menja - Ilman Minua

"Ilman Minua" (Without me) by Paula Koivuniemi was released as a single in 1986. This dramatic ballad was well suited for Paula's voice and it has since remained one of her most requested songs. The original "Bez Menja" (Without me) was done by none other than Alla Pugacheva of Russia. It was perhaps appropriate for a great diva to sing a love song as "Without me", than more commonly "Without you". The song was composed by famous Latvian composer Pauls Raimonds. Alla's career started in 1965 and is still flourishing today. Recently, a radio station was launched bearing her name - Radio Alla. She enjoys a somewhat iconic status in Russia and is the most successful all-time-Soviet performer in terms of record sales and popularity. In 1991 she became the last person to be named a "People's Artist of the USSR".

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Gambler's Guitar - Naurava kulkuri

Famous Finnish entertainer, singer, musician and actor, Vesa-Matti Loiri has had many stage characters. One of them was Jean-Pierre Kusela in one of his TV shows. It was a parody of a typical French chanson singer and crooner - someone like Jean-Claude Pascal, for example. The most memorable and hilarious song in Jean-Pierre's repertoire was "Naurava kulkuri" (Laughing vagabond) from the year 1986. It is impossible to listen this song without laughing, or at least smiling. The original song was actually in quite different tone. This C&W -flavoured tune was called "Gambler's Guitar" and written and performed by Jim Lowe already in 1953. Jim's greatest moment came in 1957, when his "Green Door" was a big hit. A German version of "Gambler's Guitar" hit the European charts in 1958 and was done by Fred Bertelmann. The title was "Der lachende vagabund" (Laughing Vagabond) and it was included in the movie of the same name. The Finnish versions (incl. Jean-Pierre's) are based on this interpretation.

Updated on 18.09.2010: added the first Finnish version by Per-Erik Förars.

Here's the bunch: