It was 2004. It was time to ask Leslie to marry me. Being a Songwriter, I of course wanted to compose something that would be so emotional and heartfelt that it would bring tears. That was my original objective and task with this song. ~Oh yeah, and to hopefully, convince her to say yes. (lol) I was lying in bed one very early morning and I noticed that at dawn every day, there was a circular cloud that surrounded the Waahila mountain range in back of our home. I remember thinking to myself Wow, this circle of clouds might be a good inspiration for Leslie’s wedding song”. I asked Hawaiian Historian Uncle Charlie Maxwell the following week if the relation to a wedding “ring” could be metaphoric to this “ring” of clouds around those mountains near our home . I knew immediately I was on to something, and that Uncle Charlie really loved this question, because his eyebrows went way WAY up like they do when he was surprised ! He said “ Barry, that is a perfect metaphor for a man’s eternal love for his wife. That “lei of rain” that comes every morning and encircles around those mountains near your home has been doing that for centuries, and will continue to do so, as we Hawaiian’s say “mau a mau” (Forever and ever, till the end of time). ~So that is perfect poetry for a wedding proposal song. The song actually was composed with 2 people in mind. The first and foremost of course was Leslie, who said yes to my proposal and made that the greatest moment in my life. The second was my then HAPA partner Nathan Aweau. I really wanted to give Nathan a song to really stretch out on and truly show the world his vocal range, power, intimacy and drama. I am not one to brag, and really am my own worse critic. On my bathroom mirror are the words “Progress Or Decay”. I always want and think I can do better ! ~But I have to say that my feelings are that Nathan’s vocal performance on this song is not only one of the finest in recorded Hawaiian Music, but one of the finest of any recorded music. From the opening line “Lei ia Manoa i ta ua~Manoa wears a lei of rain” to the last note that he holds for 22 seconds, full voice, is to me, euphoric. ~This is the kind of performance that awarded Nathan Male Vocalist Of the Year” in Hawai’i more than once. The melody came to me on a fight from Honolulu to Maui. Luckily, I had a small travel recorder, or it might have been lost. I sang the melody into the recorder during the flight. I still have that recording, and all you hear is me faintly humming the melody over loud plane engine noise ! After the song was demo-recorded a few days later, I was in a panic ! I swore the melody was from another song that someone else wrote, and for 2 weeks I was going around playing the song for friends and asking “ This is someone else’s melody, right ? You heard this before, right ???” Luckily it was my melody I was gifted with from above. I always loved what Sting had to say when he was asked during an interview “How did you write Fields Of Gold” and he said “ Well, God writes the songs and I hold the pen”. I wrote most of the Hawaiian words, but had some great help from my Professor Kimo Armitage and my Tahitian teacher and friend Patrick Ariihere Brault. Kimo’s beautiful line “ Uhola Malie Ka Noe” meaning “The mist unfurls at Manoa” that starts the second verse is evocative of the entire 5:44 song. ~Beautiful and picturesque, like mist in a forest. ~Patrick added the beautiful Tahitian lline “O Manoa I Te Ahina Wai” on the last verse which means “ Manoa is in the mist”. This song perfectly captured what my Wife is to me, and to all who really know her, and how my “beloved one, who dwells in tranquility” is my lifes inspiration. ~I love it when we are out shopping or island hopping, and the song is played overhead in a Mall or store. I always look at Leslie and smile and say “ See honey, that song is going to follow you for the rest of your life”. Below are the words and translation and the re-mixed and re-mastered version released this week on I-Tunes. ~We will be releasing a brand new song entitled BLUE next week. ~Aloha! lyrics-meanings/lyrics/view/Hapa/LEI+MANOA/
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:32:25 +0000
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