Vintage music that still rock

Back in the early 70's  I had the rare opportunity to lay my  hands on a tape recorder which one of my cousins who lived next to my house brought home.

It was gray in color, around 2x2 feet with a handle to carry it around. Below is the exact model

I used to stay glued at the stool on which this magic box was kept and stared at the spinning spools while on my toes. - I was almost as 'tall' as the stool and needed extra height to fully view the amazing gadget.

I used to be there almost the whole day for months and was changing spools and enjoying the music.

The stuff still rings in my ears and still can remember the lyrics of most of the songs.
Just to list some of it..

හායි  හූයි බබී ආච්චි  - Desmond De Silva
මම දුන්නේ කිස් එකයි - Gypsies - early days ->  Original song I heard on tape 
චුඩා මානිකේ බලාල යනව මේ අපි  - Despond De Silva
ගෙදර හිටිය රෝසා

යමන්  බන්ඩො වෙසක් බලන්න - Desmond De Silva 

කැන්ඩි ළමිස්සි - Mariazelle


කඳ සුරිඳුනි  - Clarence

ආයා, දොම්පේ ආයා - Desmond

අම්මා  අම්මා මේ මට, කියන්න ලැජ්ජයි තාත්තට  - Gypsies
හිනා හිනා හිනා හිනා වෙන්න හිනා   - Gypsies

මල්ලිකා මල්ලිකා මට තව ඉන්න බෑ - Gypsies

නිලුපුල් සුවඳ උරා - Gypsies

වදකහ සුදිය

මොරටුව මොරටුව - Clarence

ගමෙන් ලියුමක් ඇවිල්ලා - Clarence

So much powerful officer's daughter..

and many more...  Will try to complete  the list later

Most of these were not very much suitable for a kid in  grade 3 or 4, and i did not have a clue on most lyrics, but the melodies simply sunk in.

I have not heard හායි  හූයි බබී ආච්චි  for 40 years - still remember it
(and I admit, it's not the best lyrics.... )
බබී ආච්චිට පුලුටු කැවිලා මේක අහන්න
පිස්සු හැදිලා බබී ආච්චිත් ලෙඩින්  දෙයියනේ
බබයිය නං හරි නාකියි , බබී ආච්චිට හැට දෙකකී (මට මේක ඇහුනේ 'ඇට දෙකකී' කියල ඒ දවස් වල )
බබී ආච්චිත් ලෙඩින් දොළොස් මසක් ගත උනේ ...

Babi achchi song was later re-done by someone which is totally different in lyrics and melody, tried to search for the original but could not..

here is Saman Silva's version of the Original Babi Achchi (God knows what's the meaning of this and why someone wrote a song like this ..)


Clarence Wijewardana.
My idol .. I listened to his work - without even understanding a word of it at 2 years.
Will write on it later...

Gypsies

Sunil started in the 70's with love songs like 'Nilupul suwanda ura', 'Ma sathutin bawa' and 'Oba dutu e mul dine' and showed his true capacity in vocals, song-writing, composing and lead guitar.


Listen to Sunil's early masterpieces 

Nilupul Suwanda Ura:    
Maa sathutin bawa:      
Oba dutu ae mul dine : 




Unfortunately he thought otherwise and changed track to become successful faster, and killing the musically talented 'real' Sunil Perera and still doing well.... in the new path