Me, The Peaceful Heart - Kysyn vain

Kristiina Hautala (see previous entry) recorded only 22 songs during her short but successful pop singer career in the end of sixties. One of those was "Kysyn vain" (I just ask), a single released in 1968. The original song "Me, The Peaceful Heart" was a biggish hit in 1968 for Scottish songstress Lulu (real name Marie MacDonald McLaughlin Lawrie) and written by Tony Hazzard who has been finnpicked before, see here. Lulu's first hit was "Shout" in 1964, when she was only 15 and performing with his backing group The Luvvers. She later launched a solo career and was joint-winner of the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest with "Boom-Bang-a-Bang". Lulu also sang the title song for the James Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun" in 1974. In recent years we have seen Lulu on television, e.g. in the 'Absolutely Fabulous' -series.

Here's the pair:

Ha! Ha! Said The Clown - Oy sanoi hän

This is the 3rd song in a row with the word "hän" (he/she) in the Finnish title. Fredi (see previous entry) had his first big hit with "Oy sanoi hän" (Ltd said he) released in 1967. The somewhat peculiar lyrics are made by Juha Vainio, telling of some hazards that go with the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The original song was called ""Ha! Ha! Said The Clown"" and was written by UK songwriter Tony Hazzard and performed by Manfred Mann . The other mega success for Mann written by Hazzard was "Fox On The Run". Manfred Mann was one of the most successful British Beat, R&B and pop bands of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboard player and founder, who later led the successful 1970s follow-on group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. This ""Ha-Ha" -song was made after original vocalist Paul Jones had already left for solo career. With the new lead singer Mike d'Abo, the group pursued a soft acoustic pop sound, with a tinge of social comment and surrealism in the lyrics - as in this song.

Here's the pair: