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

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.

Semi finals

Four songs were performed in each semi-final and a professional jury chose two songs from each semi final to qualify for the final. After the semi-finals, a wildcard was also chosen for the final.

Semi-final 1 – 4 January

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

Semi-final 2 – 11 January

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Result
1	Pepe Willberg	"Ovi elämään"	Markku Johansson [fi] (m.), Vexi Salmi (l.)	Advanced
2	Marjatta Leppänen [fi]	"Naisen vuosi"	Jaakko Salo [fi] (m.), Jukka Virtanen (l.)	Advanced
3	Kari Fall [fi]	"Maailman tie"	Kaj Backlund (m.), Monica Aspelund (l.)	Eliminated
4	Heikki Kinnunen	"Hyljätyn laulu"	Kaj Chydenius (m.), lyricist unknown	Eliminated

Semi-final 3 – 18 January

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Result
1	Danny	"Seikkailija"	Kari Kuuva [fi] (m. & l.), Jyrki Hämäläinen (l.)	Advanced
2	Pihasoittajat	"Viulu-ukko"	Kim Kuusi (m.), Hannu Karlsson (l.)	Advanced
3	Mon-Ami	"Fasten Seatbelts"	Lasse Mårtenson (m.), Jukka Virtanen (l.)	Eliminated
4	Jukka Kuoppamäki	"Hyvästi ystäväni"	Jukka Kuoppamäki (m. & l.)	Eliminated

Semi-final 4 – 25 January

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

Final

Yle held the national final on 8 February at its television studios in Helsinki. It was hosted by Apeli Halinen. The winner was chosen by regional juries.

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Points	Place
1	Pihasoittajat	"Viulu-ukko"	Kim Kuusi (m.), Hannu Karlsson (l.)	379	1
2	Marjatta Leppänen [fi]	"Naisen vuosi"	Jaakko Salo [fi] (m.), Jukka Virtanen (l.)	196	9
3	Agit Prop	"On jotain mikä yhdistää"	Henrik Otto Donner (m.), Pentti Saaritsa [fi] (l.)	228	7
4	Maarit	"Mätämakee"	Seppo Paakkunainen [fi] (m.), Ritva Paakkunainen (l.)	205	8
5	Dans	"Hei lähde maailmaan"	Esko Linnavalli [fi] (m.), Erkki Liikanen (l.)	256	6
6	Vesa-Matti Loiri and Sivupersoonat	"Laulu"	Eero Koivistoinen (m.), Juha Vainio (l.)	308	3
7	Danny	"Seikkailija"	Kari Kuuva [fi] (m. & l.), Jyrki Hämäläinen (l.)	368	2
8	Pepe Willberg	"Ovi elämään"	Markku Johansson [fi] (m.), Vexi Salmi (l.)	279	4
9	Kirka and The Islanders [fi]	"Oh, New York rakkain"	Carita Holmström (m.), Raul Reiman [fi] (l.)	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[1] 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[1] 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