What Can I Do - Nyt mitä teen

Theresa (b. Theresa Rosenius), released only two singles during her short recording career. The first one we have finnpicked earlier (see here) and here's the second one, very rare piece of music indeed. "Nyt mitä teen" (What shall I do now) was released in 1966. Despite the big success of her first single, this went nowhere. Perhaps the lyrics, even if they were crafted by Juha Vainio, weren't catchy enough - telling the tale of a damsel in distress with her bath towel... The original "What Can I Do" came from Denmark and it was a single's B-side of the beat group The Cliffters. (Theresa's first single was the cover of same single's A-side!). Their story started in 1960, when Cliff Richard and The Shadows were the name of the day. The Cliffters made music very much like Cliff & Co, and even the groups name is inspired by Cliff. The Cliffters were very popular in Finland and their lead guitarist Mogens Pedersen, who has written today's finnpick, became the idol for many aspiring Finnish beat guitarists.

Just 17 Finnpicks to go.

Here's the pair:

Fut i fejemöget - Go-go Sylvi

Kari Kuuva had his heyday as singer in the latter part of 60's. Later he gained fame mainly as a songwriter. But in 1973 he had a minor hit with "Go-go Sylvi". It was a hilarious story of an ample lady, who liked to go-go dance. The inspiration for Kari's recording came from Sweden, where "Sofia dansar go-go" (Sophie dances go-go) was a hit for schlager singer Stefan Rüdén in 1972, However, the song was of Danish origin. It was written and first performed by singer and songwriter John Mogensen and it was called "Fut i fejemöget"(Grit and sweepings).

Here's the pair:

Alley Cat - Meidän katti

There have been quite a few finnpicks that were covers of an originally instrumental tune. This is one of those. Vieno Kekkonen (see earlier entry) recorded "Meidän katti" (Our kitty) in 1962. It was released as a single (not a hit), on an EP and on an compilation album, with music targeted to children. The lyrics were done by Sauvo "Saukki" Puhtila. The original tune "Alley Cat" was a worldwide hit for Danish composer and pianist Bent Fabric (b. Bent Fabricius-Bjerre). The story of the tune started in 1961, when Bent's instrumental music piece "Omkring et Flygel" (Around a Piano) became a hit in Denmark. The song was re-released worldwide under the name "Alley Cat" the following year, and hit the charts all over, reaching number 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Alley Cat" also won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental.

p.s. I'm taking a Holiday Trip, so no Finnpicks for about a week ...

Here's the pair:

Sunshine Reggae - Sunshine Reggae

Jokke Seppälä (real name Jorma Seppälä) started his recording career in the 70's in a rock group called Session. After that has worked in the backing groups for Kisu and Vicky Rosti, and as a backing singer in Finnish ESC entries, but also made a short recording career both as solo artist and as a duo with his kid brother Jakke. Seppälä has also produced other artists and written songs for them. In 1984 Jokke recorded "Sunshine Reggae". It was released as a single and was a modest hit. The original "Sunshine Reggae" was written and performed by a Danish group Laid Back. Laid Back was founded in 1979 and the band actually comprised of only two members; Tim Stahl (keyboards) and John Guldberg (guitar). Their greatest international hit was this "Sunshine Reggae" in 1982. You can see a music video of the song, here.

Here's the pair:

Dansevise - Tanssilaulu

Laila Kinnunen (see earlier entry) was the first artist to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest. That was in 1961 with the song "Valoa ikkunassa". In the year 1963 Laila made a cover version of the winning song as "Tanssilaulu" (Dance song). The arrangement was by Jaakko Salo and the lyrics by Sauvo "Saukki" Puhtila. The ESC winner in 1963 in London was another Scandinavian country, Denmark, with "Dansevise", performed by husband and wife duo Grete & Jörgen Ingmann. Finland got 'zero points' for the first time with "Muistojeni laulu". Danmark's winning entry was perhaps the first pop song to win ESC, although it wasn't pure pop, only jazz waltz with guitar in major role (Jörgen Ingmann was a famous guitarist). You can see the duo's performance, here.

Here's the pair:

Do You Know How Much I Love You - Tahdon tänään saada

The final entry of our Armi Aavikko -series is "Tahdon tänään saada" (I will get some today). It was also recorded in 1981 and released as a single together with a version of "My Boy Lollipop". Armi's version is quite different from the original. But much more different is another Finnish cover of this same song - made in 1987 by a group called Honey B and the T-Bones. They are both good versions so both deserve to be presented here. The original song was made in the 60's bya a Danish teen boy band The Lollipops. They had tremendous success in Scandinavia in those days, and they were the first teen pop group to break through. The group consisted of brothers Torben and Jörgen Lundgreen, and Poul Petersen. They started in 1960 when they were in their very early teens and when they gained the big success in 1965 they were just around 15. What is remarkable that the brothers Lundgreen wrote most of the bands music, like they did with this "Do You Know How Much I Love You".

Here's the triple: