Aloha Oe

The chord that makes it Hawaiian

The whole sound of this song is the move from C to G7 and back. The F and Dm are decoration; the Hawaiian feeling lives in the C-G7 oscillation, which mimics the rise and fall of a falsetto line. Play it slowly and let the G7 ring: the F and D inside that chord are what the melody leans on.

• Bars 1-2: C, then G7 on "pali".
• Bars 3-4: the melody walks down; Dm here instead of F gives a darker verse ending.
• The chorus is the most-quoted four bars in Hawaiian music. Nothing to change.

Long phrases, one breath each

Each verse line is four bars long with no internal rest. If your voice runs out before the end, the phrase is not too long — you are starting it too loud. Begin at about 70 percent volume and let the last two notes fade rather than push.

Capo 1 or 2 sharpens the top line and is how most contemporary Hawaiian groups perform it; the shapes stay C, G7, F and Dm. If the room is singing along in a low register, stay at capo 0.

A note on the apostrophes

The Hawaiian ʻokina is a consonant, not punctuation, and it changes meaning. On this sheet it is printed as a plain apostrophe so that the file stays readable in every browser and every tuner app. If you are singing in public in Hawaii, learn the real marks; elsewhere, pronounce them lightly and nobody will flinch.