Please Don't Touch - Ei koskettaa saa

Methinks, this is one of the best rock songs ever (at least in it's original version). The group Amulet recorded "Ei koskettaa saa" (No touching allowed) in 1976 for their album "Caddy By Amulet". This hard rocking band was founded in 1968 and was most active in the 1970s. The band had no big hits but it enjoyed steady fan following. The same song was re-finnpicked with different lyrics in 1988, when Pate Mustajärvi released it as "Helvetistä taivaaseen (... ja takaisin)" (From hell to heaven (... and back)) on the B-side of his "Boulevard de la Madeleine" single. Pate Mustajärvi (real name Pauli Mustajärvi) is a Finnish rock legend, both with his band Popeda and in solo, going strong for over 30 years since the end of 1970's. The original of today's finnpicked song was titled "Please Don't Touch" and it was the debut single and first hit (number 25 in UK) for British rockers Johnny Kidd and The Pirates. Johnny Kidd (b. Frederick Heath) also wrote the song. In 1959, when rock music was only just emerging, this must have been really hard stuff, And it still is ...

Here's the triplet:

Un po'artista un po'no - Yksin oon

It's been a while since we last heard of Lea Laven, the Cover Queen of the 70' and 80's. She recorded this "Yksin oon" (Alone am I) in 1988 for her album "Kortit kertoo kohtalomme". It was released only as an album track, even if it had some single hit potential. The original song was of Italian origin made by a couple of well-known artists. It was written by Toto Cutugno and performed by Adriano Celentano. The song "Un po'artista un po'no"(A little bit artist, a little bit not) was on Celentano's eponymous 1980 album, created during his golden years of collaboration with Cutugno between 1977 and 1980. The song was also a single hit. You can see music video made of the song, here.

Here's the pair:

Zingarella - Kortit kertoo kohtalomme

Lea Laven was very productive in the recording studio in the 70's and 80's. As I've been stated before the major part of the recordings were covers. But it dooesn't really matter if the covers are good. As is this "Kortit kertoo kohtalomme" (Cards tell our fortune) recorded in 1988. The original was called "Zingarella" and performed by Enrico Macias (b. Gaston Ghrenassia). He was born in Constantine, then French Algeria but when the Algerian War of Independence was raging, Gaston (Macias) went into exile in mainland France. Arriving in Paris, he decided to pursue a career in music. He appeared on French television and became an overnight sensation. In 1964, he was transformed into Enrico Macias. From that time on, he has toured throughout the world, recorded hit songs in Spanish and Italian, and met great success on every continent.

Here's the pair: