The lyrics tell a story of a distant land beyond the sea – a happy paradise – however, the narrator can only reach it in his thoughts.
[1] An unusual take on "Satumaa" (and perhaps one more likely to be known outside of Finland) appears on a Frank Zappa live album from a Helsinki concert in 1974.
Requested at short notice, the band plays the song from sheet music with the (non-Finnish-speaking) vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock trying his best to read the Finnish lyrics.
The name "Satumaa" is also mentioned in a pop rock song "Satumaa-tango" by Finnish Maija Vilkkumaa.
Numminen, in his novel Tango is my passion, says: "I have heard it was proposed for inclusion in a new hymn book.