La Pioggia - Mä aurinkoon jään

Matti Esko released his first, eponymous, album in 1971. This "Mä aurinkoon jään" (I'll stay in the sun) was on it and it was also released as a single, however failing to create any chart action. Matti's breakthrough was still some years away. The original song did not tell about sun, in fact the lyrics dealt with rain, "La Pioggia" in Italian, and how the love conquers it; "... rain does not exist if you look at me". The song was was performed in 1969 San Remo music festival by Gigliola Cinquetti, and it became a deserved hit for her. You can see the performance, here. Gigliola is of course best remembered by being the Eurovision Song Contest winner in 1964.

Here's the pair:

Stumblin' in - Kompastuttiin

Berit (see earlier entry) recorded an album called "Rakkauden jälkeen" in 1980. On one of the tracks she was teamed up with Matti Esko (see earlier entry) and they performed the song "Kompastuttin" (We stumbled). It was also released as a single, but didn't succeed chartwise. The original song was a Chinnichap composition called "Stumblin' in" and it was performed by Smokie's lead singer Chris Norman and Suzi Quatro. The song was included in Quatro's album "If You Knew Suzi" (US version). It was released as a single, and it went all the way to number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979. It's quite extraordinary, that this song was Quatro's ONLY US Top 40 hit.

Here's the pair:

The Old Nickelodeon Sound - Vanhat laulut nuo

Matti Esko (see earlier entry) recorded "Vanhat laulut nuo" (Those old songs) in 1990 for his hit album "Reissumies". The lyrics depicted an old sailor reminiscing good old days. The original song was called "The Old Nickelodeon Sound" was an album track on Sailor's second - and most successful - album "Trouble" in 1975. You can see Sailor perform the song, here. Originally "nickelodeon" was the name for an early 20th century form of small neighbourhood movie theatre. But Sailor gave the name to a music instrument they developed. It was a huge two-sided synthesizer with multiple stacks of keyboards. It was used to re-create the multiple instrument sounds used in Sailor's recordings. In addition, the band had no base player, and all base parts were played by nickelodeon, thus contributing in creation of the original sound of Sailor.

Here's the pair:

Lady - Yksin

As the girls, women, senoritas and senoras sooner or later evolve into ladies, we move with them. The next entries are dedicated to these ladies. At first, perhaps the most beautiful song written about a lady, that for some reason got Finnish title "Yksin" ("Alone"; lyrics made by Raul Reiman)) when Matti Esko (see previous entry) recorded it in 1981. The original song "Lady" was made famous by Kenny Rogers. Kenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers is a well-known American country music singer-songwriter, but also a photographer, record producer, actor and entrepreneur. In his long career he has charted more than 70 hit singles across various music genres. This particular song went all the way to number one in 1980. It was written and produced by another American legend, Lionel Richie. You can see Kenny perform the song live in 1980, here.

Here's the pair:

I Wanna Go - Lumikenttien kutsu

Now that we - after many 'black' years - have experienced a real winter in Southern Finland with lots of snow and freeze, it is only appropriate to present "Lumikenttien kutsu" (Call of the snowfields), a song that was a big favourite in the seventies. The song was recorded in 1976 by at least 7(!) Finnish artists, and here is the version by Matti Esko (real name Matti Eskonniemi). Matti has always been predominantly a schlager singer and his career began already in 1969. He is still performing actively and is still among the most popular singers of his genre. The lyrics to this epic tune were written by Pertsa Reponen. The original song was the signature of the television series ""Jack London - L'avventura del grande Nord". It was produced by the Italian national TV network RAI and shown on the Italian TV in 1973-74 and in 1975 also on the Finnish TV, with the title "Lumikenttien kutsu". This "I Wanna Go" was performed by Italian singer and actor Orso-Maria Guerrini, who also played leading role in the series.

Here's the pair: