Wichita Lineman - Tie jatkuu äärettömiin

Hector recorded "Tie jatkuu äärettömiin" (The road goes on infinitely) in 1969, and it was released on the B-side of his "Kuningatar" -single (cover of Peter Sarsted's "Where Do You Go To My Lovely").  The Finnish lyrics are of course written by Hector himself.  The original song "Wichita Lineman" is a classic song written by Jimmy Webb in 1968, first recorded by Glen Campbell. It appeared on his 1968 album of the same name, and reached number 3 on the US pop charts. Rolling Stone -magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" ranked "Wichita Lineman" at 192. It has been referred to as "the first existential country song" and some have praised it as "the greatest pop song ever composed". Wichita is a county in Kansas, USA.

Here's the pair:

Up Up And Away- Hop hop ylöspäin

As today is Jimmy Webb's birthday. let's listen to a song written by this songwriter genius. Lasse Mårtenson recorded "Hop hop ylöspäin" (Hup hup upwards) in 1968. It was released on the b-side of his hit "Kuinka kaunista on" (cover of "What A Wonderful World"). Pertti Reponen put the Finnish words in the song. The original song "Up Up And Away" was popularized by the american vocal group The 5th Dimension. It became a major pop hit, reaching number 7 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart in 1967. The song, themed around images of hot air ballooning, won several Grammy Awards in 1968. You can see the group perform "Up Up And Away", here.

Here's the pair:

Honey Come Back - Luoksein jää

I recall this song from the 70's, and I remember liking especially it's fine and beautiful melody line. Ossi Ahlapuro's (see earlier entry) "Luoksein jää" (Stay by me) was released in 1970 on the B-side of his big hit "Azzurro", and maybe therefore it's nowadays largely forgotten. No wonder the song has it's moments in the melody department, becouse it's written by master songwriter Jimmy Webb. The man who performed the song and made it a major hit in USA in 1970, was Glenn Campbell. You can see him perform the song live on Johnny Cash Show, here. The song was also versioned in that same year at least by country singers Patti Page and Lynn Anderson, whose version you can hear, here.

Here's the pair: