Meleana E - by Francis Samuel Ka`a`a

 
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Meleana ê, Meleana ho`i
Meleana ka wahine lomilomi ia
 
Meleana ê, Meleana ho`i
O `oe kai pono o ka ua
 
Meleana ê, Meleana ho`i
O ka ipu kukui mâlamalama

Meleana ê, Meleana ho`i
I ka lepo ulaula o Kapahulu

Meleana ê,, Meleana ho`'i
O ka otomobile a`e aukûaukû `ana

Meleana ê, Meleana ho`i
E ala mai `oe moe loa nei
 
Ha`ina `ia mai ana ka puana
Meleana ka wahine lomilomi ia

 



Heed me Maryann, Maryann come
Woman, come and massage me

Listen Maryann, Maryann come
You are so right for me
 
Pay attention Maryann, Maryann come
You are my light
 
Heed me Maryann, Maryann come
The red dirt of Kapahulu

Listen Maryann, Maryann come
The automobile sways back and forth
Hey Maryann, Maryann come
Come and sleep here tonight

Tell the refrain
Maryann, the woman who massages

 

Source: Source: Jon Omi Keoni who acquired this information from Maryann's half sister, Francis Ka'a'a Na'ehu, an employee of the Federal Post Office in Honolulu. - This song was written for the composer's daughter, Maryann Ka`a`a Dias, the mother of the former Farrington High School football coach Skippa Dias. Maryann or Meleana used to massage her father's shoulders when she was a young girl. Lomi lomi i`a means to massage the fish. She was of Hawaiian-Scandinavian extraction and lived at the turn of the century.
Captain Christian L’Orange was sent to Norway by the Hawaiian government and the Sugar Planters to recruit workers for the sugar fields and mills. In 1880, the Norwegian ship Bega left the port of Drammen, Norway, with 400 contract workers, mostly Norwegians with some Swedes and Danes. The first of the workers arrived February 18, 1881, and anchored off Maui, after a brutal 6-month voyage. The 2nd ship, Musca, left Norway in May, with 230 immigrants contracted for sugar plantations on Maui and the Big Island. Culture and climate shock, harsh living and working conditions and controversy caused much discontent. When word reached Norway, Hawai`i was not able to enlist more workers from Scandinavia and started to import labor from Asia. Only about 100 of the original 630 workers remained in Hawai`i. Bautastein was erected on Mâ`alaea, Maui, near the McGregor Point lighthouse, to commerorate the arrival of the 630 Scandinavian contract workers. Bautastein is a Viking tradition where a stone marker is placed at the spot of first landing in a foreign land. Translated by Kanani Mana Copyright 1963 Miller Music Corp Music clip by Me Ke Aloha Serenaders