Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975

Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1975 with the song "Old Man Fiddle", composed by Kim Kuusi, with lyrics by Arthur Ridgway Spencer, and performed by the band Pihasoittajat. The Finnish participating broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), selected its entry through a national final.

Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975
Eurovision Song Contest 1975
Participating broadcaster	Yleisradio (Yle)
Country	Finland
Selection process	National final
Selection date	8 February 1975
Competing entry
Song	"Old Man Fiddle"
Artist	Pihasoittajat
Songwriters	Kim Kuusi Arthur Ridgway Spencer Hannu Karlsson
Placement
Final result	7th, 74 points
Participation chronology
◄1974 • 1975 • 1976►

Before Eurovision

Yleisradio (Yle) invited 16 composers for the competition. The Finnish national selection consisted of four semi finals and a final. It was the first year the Finnish selection shows were broadcast in colour.^[1]

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were held on 4, 11, 18 and 25 January. Four songs were performed in each semi-final and a professional jury consisting eleven members chose two songs from each semi final to qualify for the final. After the semi-finals, a wildcard was also chosen for the final.^[1][2][3]

Semi-final 1 – 4 January 1975

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Place
1	M. A. Numminen	"Voittolaulu"	Jorma Panula, M. A. Numminen	3
2	Maarit	"Mätämakee"	Seppo Paakkunainen [fi], Ritva Paakkunainen	1
3	Ritva Oksanen [fi]	"Suuri naapuri"	Antti Hyvärinen [fi], Jukka Virtanen	4
4	Dans	"Hei lähde maailmaan"	Esko Linnavalli [fi], Erkki Liikanen	2

Semi-final 2 – 11 January 1975

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Place
1	Kari Fall [fi]	"Maailman tie"	Kaj Backlund, Monica Aspelund	4
2	Heikki Kinnunen	"Hyljätyn laulu"	Kaj Chydenius, Marja-Leena Mikkola	3
3	Pepe Willberg	"Ovi elämään"	Markku Johansson [fi], Vexi Salmi	1
4	Marjatta Leppänen [fi]	"Naisen vuosi"	Jaakko Salo [fi], Jukka Virtanen	2

Semi-final 3 – 18 January 1975

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Place
1	Mon-Ami	"Fasten Seatbelts"	Lasse Mårtenson, Jukka Virtanen	4
2	Danny	"Seikkailija"	Kari Kuuva [fi], Jyrki Hämäläinen	1[a]
3	Pihasoittajat	"Viulu-ukko"	Kim Kuusi, Hannu Karlsson	2[a]
4	Jukka Kuoppamäki	"Hyvästi ystäväni"	Jukka Kuoppamäki	3

Semi-final 4 – 25 January 1975

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Place
1	Agit Prop	"On jotain mikä yhdistää"	Henrik Otto Donner, Pentti Saaritsa [fi]	3
2	Tapani Kansa	"Luonnollisuus"	Rauno Lehtinen	4
3	Vesa-Matti Loiri and Sivupersoonat	"Laulu"	Eero Koivistoinen, Juha Vainio	1
4	Kirka and The Islanders [fi]	"Oh, New York rakkain"	Carita Holmström, Raul Reiman [fi]	2

Final

Yle held the national final on 8 February at its television studios in Helsinki, hosted by Alpo "Apeli" Halinen [fi]. The winner was chosen by regional juries. Each jury group consisted of 15 members, and each juror distributed their points between 1–5 points for each song.^[1][2][4][5]

Final – 8 February 1975

Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Pihasoittajat	"Viulu-ukko"	379	1
2	Marjatta Leppänen [fi]	"Naisen vuosi"	196	9
3	Agit Prop	"On jotain mikä yhdistää"	228	7
4	Maarit	"Mätämakee"	205	8
5	Dans	"Hei lähde maailmaan"	256	6
6	Vesa-Matti Loiri and Sivupersoonat	"Laulu"	308	3
7	Danny	"Seikkailija"	368	2
8	Pepe Willberg	"Ovi elämään"	279	4
9	Kirka and The Islanders [fi]	"Oh, New York rakkain"	265	5

Scoreboard

Song	Turku	Helsinki	Tampere	Mikkeli	Kuopio	Seinäjoki	Rovaniemi	Total
"Viulu-ukko"	48	55	54	46	58	57	61	379
"Naisen vuosi"	25	25	29	33	30	29	25	196
"On jotakin mikä yhdistää"	22	41	33	31	38	26	37	228
"Mätämakee"	34	28	30	32	23	29	29	205
"Hei lähde maailmaan"	42	38	32	38	28	38	40	256
"Laulu"	43	49	37	45	41	40	53	308
"Seikkailija"	54	49	55	60	50	53	47	368
"Ovi elämään"	30	48	42	43	44	39	33	279
"Oh, New York rakkain"	43	45	35	46	26	29	41	265

The winning song "Viulu-ukko" was performed in Finnish in the national selection shows but it was translated into English for the international Song Contest as "Old Man Fiddle".

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Pihasoittajat performed 15th in the running order, following Monaco and preceding Portugal. The Finnish entry was conducted by Ossi Runne. At the close of voting, Finland picked up 74 points and placed 7th of the 19 entries.

Among the members of the Finnish jury were Tero Lehto, Merja Nyström, Ari Montonen and Hilkka Sokura.

Voting

Points awarded to Finland[6] Score Country 12 points  Germany   Switzerland 10 points  Norway 8 points  Monaco  Israel 7 points 6 points  Luxembourg 5 points  Ireland  Yugoslavia 4 points  United Kingdom 3 points  Sweden 2 points 1 point  Spain

Points awarded by Finland[6] Score Country 12 points  Italy 10 points  Netherlands 8 points  Spain 7 points  United Kingdom 6 points  Sweden 5 points  Luxembourg 4 points   Switzerland 3 points  Israel 2 points  Monaco 1 point  Ireland

Notes

1. Yle's old article mentions that Pihasoittajat won the semi, while Yle Elävä arkisto's article mentions that Danny won the semi