2-4-6-8 Motorway - Mopetilla maailmalle

Freeman (see earlier entry) recorded "Mopetilla maailmalle" (Into the world with moped) in 1978. It was released only as a single and was a modest hit, but not nearly as big one as Freeman's earlier single releases. The lyrics, as in yesterday's Finnpick, were from the pen of Heikki Harma/Hector. The original song "2-4-6-8 Motorway" was the first hit (and a big one) in 1977 for UK group Tom Robinson Band. It was written by band leader Tom Robinson. The lyrics tell about a gay truck driver driving down the motorway. Robinson was gay, and at the time active in the gay liberation movement. However, he himself became the subject of controversy in the 90's when he chose to live with a woman and become a father.

Updated on 18.09.2010: added the version "Kissojen taivas" by the group "Kissojen Taivas".

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:

Squeeze Box - Mutsi täytti viiskyt

Freeman (real name Leo Friman) broke through in 1976 with his smash hit 'Ajetaan me tandemilla" (Lets ride on a tandem bike). At first Freeman was guitarist in a group called Waterloo, but later went solo. His early hits were all his own compositions and lyricist was our old Finnpicked friend Hector (se previous entry). In the 80's Freeman was music jourmalist in Finnish National Radio, and from the 90's until present days he's been very active with the retro group Menneisyyden Vangit (Prisoners of the Past). Freeman recorded "Mutsi täytti viiskyt" (Momma turned fifty) in 1976 and it was released as a B-side to his another hit single "Osuuskaupan Jane". Lyrics were again done by Hector. The original song was performed by The Who and was called "Squeeze Box". It was on their "Who By Numbers" -album and released as a single in 1975. The dictionary tells us that "The term Squeezebox is a colloquial expression referring to any musical instrument of the general class of hand-held bellows-driven free reed aerophones such as the accordion or concertina. The term is so applied because such instruments are generally in the shape of a rectangular prism or box, and the bellows is operated by squeezing in and drawing out." Of course lyrics both in Finnish and original version, song contain sexual innuendo.

Here's the pair: