Hoo! Ha! Hey! Looking for an old Finnish song.

January 7, 2008 6:52 PM

I'm looking for words/music/recordings of an old Finnish song. Unfortunately I don't have much to go on. Hardly anything, really. Only that the verses end with a "hoo! ha! hey!" and it is a "lively" song.

Can any Finns out there assist?

Looking to learn this for my mother-in-law who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Her brothers used to play this song when they were younger, so it is of the 1940s/1950s era or earlier, quite possibly a traditional song. The above is the best info I have from some elderly cousins.

I've played for Alzheimer's patients before and I know it would be very meaningful to my wife's mother and family if I could figure out what the song is.

posted by quarterframer to media & arts (11 comments total)

Is it Loituma?
posted by infinityjinx at 7:23 PM on January 7

Whoops, the song is called Ievan Polkka, the group singing it here is called Loituma =P Hope that helps though...
posted by infinityjinx at 7:25 PM on January 7

If it's them, you might be interested in checking out Wolfdog's kickass version at Metafilter Music.
posted by micayetoca at 8:31 PM on January 7

Could it be a drinking song?

(Crazy Finns.)
posted by cmiller at 8:37 PM on January 7

Drat, I was hoping it would have been Finnish metal band Finntroll.
posted by munchingzombie at 8:39 PM on January 7

You might have some luck digging around under the genre of "humppa" music, it's extremely upbeat and there's a lotta hoohei-in' going on.
posted by daravida at 3:34 AM on January 8

Eläkeläiset (wiki) are mutant humppa-holics. While they might have covered this song (whatever it is) they are better known for humppa-tized covers of pop songs (Billy Idol, Kraftwerk, etc etc).

The Finnish Music Information Centre might be worth a look. Drat, no humppa!

This page is horrible to look at, but has a load of links. Again, no humppa!
posted by omnidrew at 9:26 AM on January 8

Sakkijarven Polkka is a common Finnish tune, and when people sing it they tend to throw in "heys." Here's one version.
posted by PatoPata at 11:21 AM on January 8

I'm a Finn and I used to play traditional music. Hoo! Ha! Hey! is huhhahhei in Finnish, and it may appear in several Finnish folk songs. It's just a phrase like "ha-diddle-da, ha-diddle-day" or something.

Most Finns associate huhhahhei with huhhahhei ja rommia pullo ("hoo ha hey and a bottle of rum"), which is a version of viisitoista miestä arkulla vainaan, jahhohhoo ja rommia pullo. This comes from the Finnish translation of R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island. Viisitoista miestä arkulla vainaan means "15 men on a dead man's chest".

But I don't think that's what you're looking for, because there's a song called Tämän kylän tytöt ("The girls of this village"), originally recorded on a 78 rpm disc in 1908 by Pasi Jääskeläinen. It's roughly the same genre as the 78 rpm records Irish emigrants listened to in the early 20th century. And it's exactly what I think Finnish emigrants probably listened to, 50+ years ago.

I think the lyrics go

Tämän kylän tytöt ovat tilulilulei, punasia potria huhhahhei.

(Another version of this phrase appears in a play - tämän kylän tytöt ovat tilulilulei, toisen kylän tytöt ovat huhhahhei. The play is a bit older than the 78 rpm disc, 1899 vs. 1908. So the phrase as such isn't uncommon, and there are variations of it around. It's been ten years since I studied any of this stuff, so I'm afraid I have no idea of when and where this phrase and song have been published, collected or recorded the first time.)

Could you ask someone if those lines ring a bell? If this is the right song, the library in town should have a book with lyrics and sheet music. I can easily photocopy and/or scan those the next time I have some errands to run in town.
posted by kaarne at 2:39 PM on January 8

You guys are great, thank you. I don't know if I will ever have enough information to be sure, but now I have good direction and will attack a couple of the possibilities.

The language will be a challenge for sure.

(Wolfdog's Ievan Polkka, wow).
posted by quarterframer at 6:09 PM on January 8

I now have the sheet music for the song that was first recorded in 1908, if you're interested. I also borrowed a cd with music from that era, including other tunes sung by the same guy. You can reach me at my username @gmail.com.

You could try asking your mother-in-law or her relatives if the song was a "kupletti". The word might ring a bell. "Kupletti" songs were popular among emigrants. Pasi Jääskeläinen was the first "kupletti star". Another guy called Hiski Salomaa was very popular in America. If these sound familiar to them, I bet this song is the one you're looking for.
posted by kaarne at 7:59 AM on January 12