Stupid Cupid - Tuttu juttu

Arja Koriseva (see earlier entry) recorded "Tuttu juttu" (A familiar story) for her debut album in 1990. This particular track was not released as a single, but the album was very popular and the sales earned her platinum in 1991. The Finnish lyrics were written by Turkka Mali, a finnpicked artist himself (see here). It's somewhat peculiar that this famous song was not covered in Finnish prior to Arja's version. The original was namely "Stupid Cupid", a massive pop hit for Connie Francis already in 1958. The song was composed by Neil Sedaka and it was chosen (by Connie herself) to be Francis' single as it was in contrast to her preceding ballad hits (most notably "Who's Sorry Now").

31 Finnpicks to go.

Here's the pair:

Disco Bouzouki - Villi ilta

Another weekend reindez-vous with Daniel Vangarde. Arja Koriseva recorded "Villi ilta" (Wild night) in 1990 for her first album. Arja is not known for her disco songs, so this is a rare exception. The lyrics (by Turkka Mali) tell about escapades in bachelorette night. The original song "Disco Bouzouki" was written by French producers and songwriters Daniel Vangarde and Jean Kluger. It was a continental hit for a group called Bouzouki Disco Band (a.k.a Great Disco Bouzouki Band) in 1977. It was most probably a studio band put together by Vangarde and Kluger, because after one more single it vanished from the music world.

Here's the pair:

Perhaps Love - Se on rakkautta oikeaa

We continue this series of Finnish duet covers with the song "Se on rakkautta oikeaa" (It is real love) recorded by Arja Koriseva and Tapani Kansa (see previous entries here and here) in 1991. It was released on Arja's 2nd album "Me kaksi vain". Arja was very popular artist at the time and the album went platinum. This song was never released as a single, which is a pity becouse it's one of those hidden gems of love songs, and should be played in all weddings :-). The original song is called "Perhaps Love" and is written by late John Denver (b. Henry John Deutschendorf) . Denver originally recorded it in 1975 as a duet with Placido Domingo. It was not expected to be a commercial success, but as one radio station played it on the air, and the call-in response from listeners was overwhelming, they were convinced to release it. Annie, Denver's first wife and the Annie of "Annie's Song" once said that "Perhaps Love" was her favorite of all of the songs John wrote. So there must be something special about it ... Here we present John Denver duetting with - not Placido Domingo - but Danish songstress Lene Siel. This is perhaps how it should have done in the first place ...

Here's the pair:

Inget stoppar oss nu - Kattojen primadonna

Let's now go from 'Princess' to 'Primadonna'. "Kattojen primadonna" (Primadonna of the rooftops) was recorded by Arja Koriseva in 1995. Arja was a teacher, but after winning the Finnish Tango Queen title in 1989, she has concentrated in her singing career. She has been among the most popular Finnish female artists ever since, and has been awarded 4 platinum records for album sales. Arja is mostly known for her schalagers and ballads, but this 'Kattojen primadonna' is pure dance pop. The driving lyrics are written by our old friend Hector (see previous entry). The song that Arja covered was included in the Colin Nutleys movie ”BlackJack” in 1990, set in the 'dansband' milieu. One of the main 'characters' of the movie was the fictional group Black Jack, that was transformed into a real band after the movie. The film song was called "Inget stoppar oss nu". The original song was entitled "Inget kan stoppa oss nu" and was written by the famous Swedish Eurovision songsmith Lasse Holm (e.g. "Främling" by Carola Häggkvist was his song). It was meant to be in the Swedish preliminaries for Eurovision Song Contest 1987. But it was withdrawn for some reason. However, the Black Jack's version, released in connection of the movie, became massive hit and has become some kind of emblem for the whole Swedish 'dansband' music.

Here's the pair: