SONG OF THE WEEK – HAWAII ’78

A few days ago I was talking with my friends Connie and Rick Garnett.  A couple of the things mentioned in passing were how some poets and songwriters have the ability to express important universal principles in a way that we all can understand and the wonderful singing voice of Hawaiian Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – who is usually known as “Bruddah Iz.”  Those ideas led me to this Song of the Week, “Hawaii ’78.”

Rather than illustrating simply how a single gifted writer can reach our hearts with his or her words, “Hawaii ’78” shows that many people can beautifully express truly universal concepts, either individually or together.  Most of the verses of the song were written by Hawaiian musician Micky Ioane, with help from friends in the “bruddah bruddah” collegiality of the Islands.  The chorus was apparently composed by local record producer David Kawika Crowley, according to his website.

The haunting Hawaiian words that begin and end the song – “Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono” – are the official motto of the State of Hawaii, as provided in Article 15, Section 5 of Hawaii’s Constitution.  The official meaning of the words, according to the Hawaiian Revised Statutes, is “the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”

Translation, though, is a tricky business.  The words were originally spoken by King Kamehameha III on July 31, 1843, when Queen Victoria restored Hawaiian sovereignty after several months of occupation by the British.  In that context, the translation could be “the sovereignty of the land is restored/perpetuated in righteousness.”  Regardless of the exact words in translation, the phrase seems to be recognized to indicate that people should respect and do what is right for the land, and for all life.

David Kawika Crowley’s record label released a version of the song entitled “Hawaii ’77,” performed by Mickey Ioane and others, on January 1, 1977, and it was not commercially successful.  A few months later, it was heard and then recorded, as “Hawaii ’78,” by a group called the Makaha Sons of Ni’ihau.  It has been one of the most popular Hawaiian songs ever since.

Two of the members of the Makaha Sons were lead vocalist “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole and his brother “Skippy.”  Although their music shows their love for the land of Hawaii, the brothers, unfortunately, did not properly care for their own bodies.  In 1982, Skippy died of a heart attack resulting from his obesity.  His younger brother Iz apparently did not learn from that tragedy, as his weight eventually exceeded 750 pounds.

In 1990, Iz left the Makaha Sons for a solo career in which he worked to bring the feel of Hawaiian music to better known American songs.  He is best remembered for his versions of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Wonderful World.”  Iz died in 1997, at the age of 38, due to complications of his obesity.  Human organ systems simply are not designed to function in such a huge body.  He left behind some beautiful songs, including “Hawaii ’78,” which he also included on his best selling solo album, Facing Future.

Although it was specifically by Hawaiians and for Hawaii, “Hawaii ’78” expresses  universal sentiments.  Wherever humans exist, they (we) must recognize their impact on the land and on life.  All people can ask what their God would think of their stewardship of the land and their lives if that divine being chose to return to Earth today.

The version of the song that is included here is by the Makaha Sons of Ni’ihau.  The harmonies in this song make it superior to Iz’s solo version, at least to my ears.  The video is fairly long – nearly eight minutes.  The first three minutes are mostly Iz talking about the song.  It is worth taking the time to watch the whole thing.

Hawaii ’78
By Micky Ioane, Abe Keala,
Cleyton Kua, and David Crowley

Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono `o Hawai’i
Ua mau ke ea o ka `âina i ka pono `o Hawai’i

If just for a day our king and queen
Would visit all these islands and saw everything
How would they feel about the changes of our land
Could you just imagine if they were around
And saw highways on their sacred grounds
How would they feel about this modern city life?

Tears would come from each other’s eyes
As they would stop to realize
That our people are in great, great danger now
How would they feel?
Would their smiles be content, then cry

Chorus:
Cry for the gods, cry for the people
Cry for the land that was taken away
And then yet you’ll find, Hawai’i.

Could you just imagine they came back
And saw traffic lights and railroad tracks
How would they feel about this modern city life
Tears would come from each other’s eyes
As they would stop to realize
That our land is in great, great danger now.

All the fighting that the King has done
To conquer all these islands, now these condominiums
How would he feel if he saw Hawai’i nei?
How would he feel? Would his smile be content, then cry?

(E hana hou i ka hui)
(Repeat chorus)

Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono `o Hawai’i
Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono `o Hawai’i.

(I cannot find current copyright information for these lyrics.
The lyrics and video are included here for educational purposes, but
I do try to provide copyright information and to avoid infringing on any
copyright.)

7 thoughts on “SONG OF THE WEEK – HAWAII ’78

  1. Pingback: SONG OF THE WEEK - TEXAS TRILOGY - ralstoncreekreview.comralstoncreekreview.com

  2. How would they feel about this modern city life…Tears would come from each others eyes as they would stop to realize…

    That’s really it, isn’t it? The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness – in the realization of the simple virtues of humanity and nature. Yet how many stop to realize? There are only a handful of Hawaiian people who retain their ancient culture, and many pretenders these days – and I don’t want to get started on that, I’d be here all day.

    Those few Hawaiians do remain close to the virtues in the land and their humanity in spite of the depredations of the first “Christian” missionaries who came to do good and stayed to do well, supplanting the ancient Gods with their own ego-projected deity which allowed them to rationalize conquest and subjugation of the land and the people in the cause of commerce and empire. That’s a “righteousness” we all know of too well.

    Whenever I think of Hawaii I feel the same sadness that’s in this song. When I lived there I had a window on both cultures, the Pacific Club set and the Hawaiian people. The self-righteous, domineering machine first constructed by the missionaries had by then become a juggernaut, an Americanized version of British Colonialism, a place where enclaves of the conquering few dictated political and economic policy for the many – in favor of the few – in corporate high-rises and during sumptuous meals with fine wines, which had replaced the Lime Rickey.

    My circumstances back then afforded me an inside view of one of the “Big Five” corporations and how it worked while I attended a public high school there with the “locals.” It was an education, the fruit of which is sadness about what happened to the Hawaiian people and their culture, and a faith that while it may prove to be rare there still are people who live the virtues rather than compromise.

    On a related note, when I was in Florida about ten years ago the population of native brown chameleons, a gentle and friendly species which people there were happy to have in their homes to keep the bug population trimmed, were disappearing due to an invasive species of black chameleons who were more aggressive. I felt sad about that, too. The last time I was there I noticed that the gentle chameleons were back and the aggressive ones were not in evidence, at least where I was. We can always hope the same thing will happen in Hawaii.

    • When we were in Kauai a few months ago, I met a man named Kimo (“Jimmy”) who was in his early 60s and made his living by doing chair massages for tourists at various resorts. While chair massages are not a traditional craft, his approach was based on traditional techniques and he knew many stories of ancient Hawaii and how they related to the relationship we should probably have with the land and to the well-lived life. I spoke with another man who was the leading local expert on making things such as baskets and clothing with palm leaves and other products of the land. He was also on the board of directors of a non-profit corporation that puts on an annual island-wide program with hula, traditional crafts and “talk story.” He was also in his 60s.

      Our major “commercialized” adventure was a helicopter flight around the island. As we were waiting to begin, I was talking to a local 20-something who worked for the helicopter company, and I asked him about some traditions. He said that he had attended a high school with a curriculum emphasizing the traditional so he spoke Hawaiian, he spent his spare time doing free diving and he knew about traditions. However, he said that he did not think about them much and did not believe that he would have liked to have lived in the pre-haole, pre-electricity, pre-fast food and tourist dollar society. It made me glad that Kimo and his friends are still around and can still influence some of the younger folks.

      Of course “Hawaii ’78” is only one example of the march of “progress.” The same concerns could be addressed as “North Dakota 2014” or “California 1955” or “Massachusetts 1620.” I don’t mean to be too pessimistic, though. The chameleons do give a reason for hope.

      • I am Hawaiian and I would not want to live in pre-Kamehameha era Hawaii either. It was an extremely vicious time full of superstition and a literal man eat man society. The Royals weren’t the brightest bunch but were by far the most reasonable & egalitarian of their era in any monarchy. One can see that in the Kanawai Malamahoe Laws, a set of laws establishing the idea and protection of castle doctrine (even against the government) and banning age based racism (extremely progressive ideas in the 1700s) and banning race based prejudice and adding universal voting rights by the late 1800’s.

        Hawaii had electricity in their government buildings before America thanks to their obsession with the World’s Fair (the Royals became obsessed with continuous representation at the Fair, having full scale Hawaii environments, miniature Iolani Palaces and competing in food and agriculture contests by the late 1800’s). A traditionalist egalitarian culture focused on clean living and importing scientific progress was probably wonderful to live in.

        Unfortunately I am extremely pessimistic about Hawaii. We need another superstar culture warrior like Iz to take us back to the Renaissance of the 90’s and successfully argue across cultures that the Hawaiian Way is the happy way, and I just don’t see anyone with that meat on their bones anymore.

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