TOMMY DORSEY - HAWAIIAN WAR CHANT

HAWAIIAN WAR CHANT

TOMMY DORSEY

SONGWRITER: PRINCE LELEIOHOKU/1860(CO-SONGWRITERS: RALPH FREED & JOHNNY NOBLE/1930)

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: HAWAIIAN WAR CHANT

LABEL: VICTOR RECORDS

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1956

"Hawaiian War Chant" was an American popular song whose original melody and lyrics were written in the 1860s by Prince Leleiohoku. The original title of the song was Kāua I Ka Huahuaʻi or "We Two in the Spray." It was not written as a chant, and the Hawaiian lyrics describe a clandestine meeting between two lovers, not a battle. The English title therefore has nothing to do with the song as it was originally written and performed in Hawaii.

Under the original title, the song was recorded around June 1911 by the Crowel Glee Club, and released by Columbia Records.

English lyrics by Ralph Freed were written in 1936 and the melody changed somewhat at that time by Johnny Noble. Tommy Dorsey recorded it on November 29, 1938, and it was released on Victor Records in the United States and Canada. In a 1942 performance, Dorsey's band featured drummer Buddy Rich and trumpeter Ziggy Elman for this song. The song was featured in the 1942 film Ship Ahoy starring Eleanor Powell, Red Skelton and the Tommy Dorsey Band. The song features prominently in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, a Disney theme park attraction that first opened at Disneyland in 1963.

Spike Jones recorded the song for Victor Records in February 1946 with Carl Grayson on vocal. It reached number eight on the charts, according to Joel Whitburn.

William Pitt Leleiohoku II, Born Kalahoʻolewa (January 10, 1855 – April 9, 1877), was a prince of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and member of the reigning House of Kalākaua. At birth, he was hānai (informally adopted) by Ruth Keʻelikōlani and later legally adopted by her in 1862 as the heir to her vast land holdings. He was educated at St. Alban's College, a precursor of the present ʻIolani School. After finishing his education, he worked in the governmental Foreign Office and served as an officer on the personal military staff of King Lunalilo. On February 14, 1874, his brother Kalākaua was elected king after the death of Lunalilo. Declared heir apparent to his childless brother, Leleiohoku was expected to inherit the throne of Hawaii. He would also serve as a Privy Councilor and member of the House of Nobles in the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii. During Kalākaua's trip to the United States to negotiate the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, he ruled as regent in the monarch's absence from November 17, 1874, to February 15, 1875. Leleiohoku died at the age of 22 from rheumatic fever resulting in the proclamation of his sister Liliʻuokalani as the next heir to the throne. An accomplished musical composer, Leleiohoku is remembered for composing many folk songs including "Kāua I Ka Huahuaʻi", which was adapted into the American popular song "Hawaiian War Chant".

There's a sunny little funny little melody

That was started by a native down in Waikiki

He would gather a crowd down beside the sea

And they'd play his gay Hawaiian chant

Soon the other little natives started singin' it

And the hula hula maidens started swingin' it

Like a tropical storm that's the way it hit

Funny little gay Hawaiian Chant

Ow way tah tualan Me big bad fightin' man

Tho it started on an island down Hawaii way

It's as popular in Tennessee or Ioway

If you wander into any cabaret

You will hear this gay Hawaiian Chant.