Harmony - Ystävyys

Tuulikki Eloranta (see earlier entry) recorded "Ystävyys" (Friendship) in 1974. It was released on her album "Hymni rakkaudelle". The Finnish lyrics - brilliant as always - were provided by Juha Vainio. The original song was called "Harmony" and was initially made popular by US musician Artie Kaplan. Artie is a saxophonist and flutist that has played on over 150 Top Ten records, for example on "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb and "Locomotion" by Little Eva. In 1973 he released his debut solo album called "Confessions Of A Male Chauvinist Pig". This "Harmony" -song was one of the tracks, and when released as a single, it hit the charts in Italy and achieved popularity alse elsewhere in Europe.

46 Finnpicks to go.

 Here's the pair:
 

Sail on - Muisto kaunis jää

Tuulikki Eloranta started her recording career in 1968. In the 70' she joined record company Love Records, famous for producing Finnish rock and progressive music. In this company, Tuulikki, however was some kind of oddball. She sang mostly schlagers and chansons. In 1978 she released album called "Niin lähellä" and one of it's tracks was this "Muisto kaunis jää" (A beautiful memory stays on). The original tune was called "Sail On" and it was written and performed by Warren Harry, a British songwriter and frontman of the group called Yum Yum Band. He had never hit with this beautiful song (or any other song for that matter), but some of his songs were hits for other artists, notably for Bucks Fizz. 

Here's the pair:

L'amour c'est la musique de la vie - Leikin tein

Let's listen to a second Shuky & Aviva cover in a row. Tuulikki Eloranta (see earlier entry) recorded "Leikin tein" (I made it to a play) in 1978 for her album "Niin lähellä". The lyrics were made by veteran wordsmith Sauvo Puhtila. The original Shuky & Aviva song was titled "L'amour c'est la musique de la vie" (Love is the music of the life), and it was co-written by Shuky Levy. The duo made also an english version called "Love Is Like", but it went nowhere. They also tried to be big in Japan and made a Japanese´version (You can hear it here).

Here's the pair:

Marinai donne e guai - Merimiehet nainen tuska

Today is the 83rd birthday of Italian singer and composer Domenico Modugno. His songs have been frequently covered in Finnish. Here's one of the lesser known examples. Tuulikki Eloranta (who has earlier made a 'guest appearance' in Finnpicks, see here) recorded "Merimiehet nainen tuska" (The sailors, the woman, the pain) in 1971. The lyrics were written by a famous Finnish poet Jarkko Laine. It was released as a single, but sunk without a trace. It was most unfortunate, becouse it was an excellent beat version of the original one. And it was a song called "Marinai donne e guai" (Sailors, women and troubles) from the Italian 1958 movie of the same name, It was written and performed by Domenico Modugno. In that same year he did his major international breakthrough with "Nel blu dipinto di blu", better known as "Volare".

Here's the pair: