Kūhiō Beach - Ihilani Miller


Kūhiō Beach,
Where the moon shines on the sand
And the Beachboys surfing in with the tide
To the shore with girls side by side


On the sand
You'll hear music of old and new
The Beachboys are now playing and singing
Of their "Liliʻu E"

Bridge:
Singing 'neath the moonlight
Under the palm trees
Down on the sands tonight
Thinking and dreaming
Waiting and yearning
For their Liliʻu E"

Kūhiō Beach,
Where the moon shines on the sand
And the Beachboys under the palm trees
Where music lingers

Source: Copyright 1948 - One morning on the way to school with her friend Linda Del Cruz, the composer felt a song coming on. Linda said,"I guess we are going to play hookey". Ilhilani shook her head "no", but when they came to their stop at McKinley High School, they stayed on the bus and continued to the end of the line. On the way back, they again passed the school bus stop and went home. Ihilani's mother questioned the girls and Ihilani said she felt a song coming on and could not compose at school with interference from the other students. The girls decided to go to Linda's home, away from the noise of the young children and the song was completed in half an hour. The composer returned home, played it for her mother who said, "pretty good, and now Liliʻu E, you can get in the kitchen and wash the dishes". The Kuhio Beach Boys & Girls club really wanted a song of their own and this was the inspiration for this mele. Ihilani and Linda were part of the Menehune Maids, a local singing group that performed professionally in Hawaiʻi. They played the song for the Kūhiō Beach boys and girls at the concession, where it was enthusiastically received, the audience scooping up napkins and brown paper bags to write down the lyrics. Verse 1, stanza 4; Ihilani recalled an instance when a beachboy took two girls, one on each side, out on a surfboard. Verse 2, stanza 4; the beachboys often referred to their tourist girlfriends as "Liliʻu E", the shortened version of Queen Liliʻuoklani, the last reigning monarch of Hawai`i.