All songs, unless otherwise noted, are copyright 2001
by Alicia Bay Laurel, Bay Tree Music ASCAP.
The other songs are used with the permission of the
publisher or songwriter, or are in public domain.
For translations of all Hawai’ian words and stories
about each song, please see the liner notes of the CD.
1. Hau’oli La Hanau (Happy Birthday)
Hau’oli lahanau, aloha nui loa.
Hau’oli lahanau, Auntie Lilikoi!
Translation: Happy birthday, great love to you forever,
Happy birthday, (name of person whose birthday it is)
Lucky live Hawaii, Hawaii lucky, too.
Seashore to da mountain, plenny love for you!
2. Kanikau O Hawai’i (by Ginni Clemmons)
Oh Hawai’i, you’ve lost your innocence;
How can we get it back?
Have we claimed you? Have we shamed you?
Have we spoiled the prize we’ve won
By taking you against your will
Like all greedy lovers do
Oh Hawai’i oohÂ…Oh Hawai’i, we’re sorry
Those who care are crying tears of shame
But with your gentle kindness,
You wash our tears away
With your never-ending streams.
Come reach us, come teach us
Your gentle, simple ways
Teach us the ways of nature
So that peace can end this war
(repeat lines 7 through 15)
Oh Hawai’i we love you
Hawai’i aloha nou,
Hawai’iÂ…
3. From Hawai’i To You (by Lani Sang)
I’ll weave a lei, a beautiful lei, of stars,
To greet you the Hawai’ian way,
Straight from Hawai’i to you.
I’ll take a kiss and blend it into a lei
Of fragrance so sweet and so rare,
Straight from Hawai’i to you.
Just vision, lazy days beside the sea
Underneath the coco tree;
This my love conveys to you.
So take a kiss and blend it into a lei
Of fragrance so sweet and so rare.
Aloha wau ia oe;
Straight from Hawaii to you.
4. Nanakuli Blues/Nanakuli/Vale of Feathers
Nanakuli Blues, by Liko Martin and Thor Wold
Nanakuli, traditional from 1890’s
Vale of Feathers, lyrics by Alicia Bay Laurel,
music by Liko Martin and Thor Wold
Tired and worn, I woke up this morn’,
Found that I was confused.
Spun right around and found I had lost
The things that I could not lose
The beaches they sell to build their hotels,
The old Hawai’ian families knew.
The birds all along the sunlight at dawn
Singing Nanakuli Blues.
O ka leo o ka manu
E ho’i mai e pili
Keiki o ka aina i ka pono a o Nanakuli e a
E ho’i mai e pili
In the vale of feathers, morning dawns
Like a lovely woman coming on.
Oh, pool of tears, wash over me;
Take my sorrows down to the sea.
‘Cause when I look back at what I lacked,
I miss the high times when they come by.
Treat the people and the islands kind;
You know it’s not about the bottom line.
In the gardens of the bountiful,
I will wander through a meadow to a pool.
Oh, mother island, plenteous,
You feed me from your flowing breast.
‘Cause when we look back at all we lacked,
We miss the high times when they come by.
Treat the people and the islands kind;
You know it’s not about the bottom line.
In the vale of feathers, land of song.
The cardinal, the mynah, and the dove.
Oh kona wind, please carry this song
To the ears of the ones that I love.
When you look back at what you lacked,
You’ll miss the high times when they come by.
Treat the people and the islands kind;
You know it’s not about the bottom line.
5. Waikaloa
Waikaloa, beautiful newborn land,
From the mountains you came,
From the smoke and the flame,
From a wave of Pele’s hand.
Waikaloa, rainforest by the sea,
With your lava rock walls,
And your trees green and tall,
Here the ancient ones live on in dreams.
I’m walking slow in Waikaloa
To play some music with my friends,
Over a’a and laupaho’eho’e,
An old steel string guitar held in my hands.
Waikaloa, north shore of Hana Bay,
Where the heiau once stood,
Where the fishing’s still good,
Where the old ki ho’alu still plays.
We sang all night in Waikaloa;
The sun rose from the sea when we were through.
Our sounds of bamboo and of koa,
The pahu, the ipu and the pu.
Waikaloa, mystery is your song.
You’re the wrinkle in time
Where the past and present rhyme;
You’re the waters that flow ever long.
6. Ukulele Hula
I’m dreaming to the sound of ukuleles
Playing all night long for a wedding of our family.
In paradise, everybody is lover,
And the more you let go the more that comes back to you.
So, surrender to the beautiful island,
And she’ll give you everything that you need.
Feasting on a sun-ripened papaya,
Playing all day in the waves along the sand,
Breezy afternoon and a sunset on the ocean,
Sailing away on a song of Bali Hai.
Let me make you feel good; that’s what we’re here for:
For ecstasy, delight and bliss.
It’s so balmy, such a balmy evening,
To melt in love in a tropical paradise.
Let’s swing and sway to the sound of ukuleles
Like the gentle green fronds of the lovely coconut tree.
Surrender to the beautiful island
And she’ll give you everything that you need.
I’m dreaming to the sound of ukuleles
Playing all night long for a wedding of our family.
In paradise everybody is a lover,
And the more you let go the more that comes back to you.
7. Holua, Kapalaoa and Paliku
Words and music by Matthew Kalalau
(Opening chant by Lei’ohu Ryder:
Eia la wahipana la
E ola e ola e ola la
Eia papa hele mu
E ala e ola e ola Haleakala)
I ke ia makou ka nani a o Holua
Amena pali ki’e ki’e a o Hale Mau’u
I ke ia makou a o Kapalaoa
Amena pu’u kaulana a o Pu’u Maile
I ke ia makou ka nani a o Paliku
Amena pali ha uli uli he nani po ina ‘ole
E o ne’i makou mele ka nani a o Holua
Kapalaoa amena Paliku
8. Sassy Hula/Manuela Boy/Livin’ On Easy
(instrumental, all songs traditional, from the 1890’s)
9. Moonlight and Shadows (by Leo Robin and Friedrick Hollaender)
Blue Lei (by R. Alex Anderson and Milton Beamer)
Moonlight and shadows and you in my arms,
And a melody and a bamboo tree, my sweet.
Even in shadows I feel no alarm,
As you held me tight in the pale moonlight, my sweet.
Close to my heart you always will be,
Never, never to part.
Moonlight and shadows and you in my arms,
I belong to you; you belong to me, my sweet.
You were wearing a blue lei
The day that I first met you,
As we walked along the sand
By the blue, blue sea.
Without a cloud in the sky to caress us,
Not a tear have you or I to suppress us.
I will always remember
The moment that I kissed you,
And the smile upon your lips that was heavenly sweet.
When your blue eyes looked in to mine,
It was then the sun began to shine,
That day in May you wore a blue lei.
10. Kawailehua’a’alakahonua
By Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett
Ke iho la, ka u’a
Hali hali na lehua, o luna
Helele’i pua, i ke kai
Hula le’a na lehua i la moana
He kupala ka ua i ke kai
Ke hoi hou e aloha mai
He mele nou e ku’u lani
Kawailehua’a’alakahonua
11. Auntie Clara
On Aloha Week in old Hana town,
I saw her ride by in a satin gown:
A goddess of flowers, a Hawaiian queen
That everyone calls Auntie Clara.
Descended from a line of ancient kings,
She plays ukulele and dances and sings,
And what makes her happy is to hear people laugh,
Which is easy around Auntie Clara.
She lives by the sea with the man that she loves,
And they raised eleven sisters and brothers.
And now their grandchildren number forty-two;
And soon, I bet, there will be others.
And she’s taught them all to sing and to dance,
To work real hard and to love romance,
Just by the way that she spends her days,
Being happy being Auntie Clara.
She’s delivered babies and planted trees,
And walked through volcanoes; she smiles with ease.
To me, she’s the essence of old Hana town,
Besides being dear Auntie Clara.
God bless you, my dear Auntie Clara!
12. Living In Hawai’i Style
Moving slow, laughing long, smiling the aloha smile,
Everybody loves living in Hawaii style la la.
Down to the sea as the day is dawning,
Lavender and golden is the morning.
Snorkeling along the coral reef
Is beautiful beyond belief, oh la la.
Fragrance of the roadside awapuhi
Underneath the ulu and kukui,
Mountain apple booms; the o’o calls;
I’m swimming under waterfalls, oh la la.
The spirit of the land is the ancient chants,
The taro growing farms and the fishing camps,
Sweet hula au’wana, bold ‘olapa,
Aloha of wahine and kanaka.
Moving slow, laughing long, smiling the aloha smile,
Everybody loves living in Hawaii style la la.
13. Maui Chimes
(instrumental, written by Sam Kapu in the 1890’s)
14. Kaupo
Kaupo, Kaupo, where the wild winds blow,
The shadow of your evening thrills me now.
Kaupo, the moon upon your brow
Rides high upon the desert mountain skies.
The spirits of the warrior kings
Alight upon the seashores of Kaupo.
Arrive by night, awaken to the sight
Of light caressing hillsides of Kaupo.
Oh lonely Lualailua Hills
Knowing only the sea, the sky and the mountain!
Oh mighty Maunawainui Canyon
Gathering the storm waters and flooding deeply!
Oh majestic cliffs of the Kaupo Valley
Ascending to sacred Mount Haleakala!
Oh ruthless Alenuihaha Channel!
Oh sea of engulfing waves!
Oh growling black stones of Nuu
Ever turning in the tide!
Oh waterfall upon waterfall
Singing Alelelele!
Oh Huialoha Church alone beside the sea
Where, in the wild winds, we gather in love!
Oh millions of stars by night!
Oh snow-capped Mauna Kea by day!
Kaupo, Kaupo, where the wild winds blow,
The shadow of your evening thrills me now.
Kaupo, the moon upon your brow
Rides high upon the desert mountain skies.
15. Auntie Alice
I heard Auntie Alice play
Slack key guitar tuned this way
(It’s called wahine tuning)
To her gentle crooning.
Her holoku was glistening;
Everyone was listening.
She wore the colors of the isle,
Made the people smile.
She was only seventeen
Playing guitar for the Queen.
Pretty Auntie Alice
At Iolani Palace.
She hears the songs the spirits sing,
Sees the light in everything,
Alice Namakelua;
Aloha ke akua.
16. Kipahulu
If you want to call on me, this is where I stay:
In a meadow, by a mango, Mau’ulili Bay.
Life is simple in the shadow of Haleakala;
Moon and raindrops for my crystal candelabra.
Let your feet dance down the boulders to the rushing stream,
Floating chilly, willy-nilly, to ancestral dreams.
Hear the spirits of the valley sing in soft guitars;
Mark the passage through the heavens: wind and cloud and stars.
Hear the cattle call as the evening falls.
Bamboo canyon walls, silver waterfalls,
Birds of ancient lineage, brilliant in their plumage,
Hidden by the foliage down from Paliku.
If you come to call on me, this is how I live:
Contemplating God’s creation, learning how to give.
Kipahulu Valley people work the livelong day;
Then you’ll see us in the evening, coming out to play.
Sudden rain may slice the sunlight, disappearing down.
Floating on the sea’s horizon, Mauna Kea’s crown.
Kaupo Gap, oh gate of heaven, clouds advance, retreat.
Verdant pasture, sleepy rapture, sky and mountain meet.
Hear the cattle call as the evening falls.
Bamboo canyon walls, silver waterfalls,
Birds of ancient lineage, brilliant in their plumage,
Hidden by the foliage down from Paliku.
Alicia Bay Laurel 