"Aloha ʻOe" (Farewell to Thee) is Liliʻuokalani's most famous song and a common cultural Leitmotif for Hawaii. The song was inspired by a horseback trip she took in 1877 to the windward side of Oʻahu. After visiting the Boyd ranch in Maunawili, Liliʻuokalani witnessed a farewell embrace between Colonel James Harbottle Boyd and one of the young ranch ladies.
This tender farewell set Lili`uokalani to thinking, and she began humming to herself on the homeward trip. Overhearing, Charles Wilson observed, "That sounds like The Lone Rock by the Sea," a comment with which Lili`uokalani is said to have agreed. When the party paused to rest in an orange grove on the Honolulu side of the Pali, the others joined in the hummings, and the song was completed later at Washington Place.[1]
| Haʻaheo ka ua i nā pali | Proudly swept the rain by the cliffs |
| Ke nihi aʻela i ka nahele | As it glided through the trees |
| E hahai (uhai) ana paha i ka liko | Still following ever the bud |
| Pua ʻāhihi lehua o uka | The ʻāhihi lehua[2] of the vale |
| Hui: | Chorus: |
| Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe | Farewell to thee, farewell to thee |
| E ke onaona noho i ka lipo | The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers |
| One fond embrace, | One fond embrace, |
| A hoʻi aʻe au | 'Ere I depart |
| Until we meet again | Until we meet again |
| ʻO ka haliʻa aloha i hiki mai | Sweet memories come back to me |
| Ke hone aʻe nei i | Bringing fresh remembrances |
| Kuʻu manawa | Of the past |
| ʻO ʻoe nō kaʻu ipo aloha | Dearest one, yes, you are mine own |
| A loko e hana nei | From you, true love shall never depart |
| Hui | Chorus |
| Maopopo kuʻu ʻike i ka nani | I have seen and watched your loveliness |
| Nā pua rose o Maunawili | The sweet rose of Maunawili |
| I laila hiaʻia nā manu | And 'tis there the birds of love dwell |
| Mikiʻala i ka nani o ka lipo | And sip the honey from your lips |
| Hui | Chorus |
Musicologist Sigmund Spaeth noted that the first two measures of the melody of the chorus (which are arpeggiated IV-I chords) resemble[3] the chorus of George Frederick Root's 1854 song "There's Music In The Air",[4] but measures 3 and 4 differ from it. The chorus of the popular 1954 song "Open Up Your Heart (And Let the Sunshine In)" also begins with the same melodic motif.
The song "The Rock Beside The Sea" referred to was published by Charles Crozat Converse in 1857, and itself derives from a Croatian folk song, "Sedi Mara Na Kamen Studencu" (Girl On The Rock).[5] Its melodic resemblance is to the first measure of Aloha `Oe, diverging from it after that.[6]