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.
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