"Hawaii" is a song written by Brian Wilson and

Mike Love Michael Edward Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys with his cousins Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson and their friend Al Jardine. Characterized by his nasal tenor and occasional bas ...

for the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

. It was recorded in July 1963 and released on their 1963 album '' Surfer Girl''. It is one of the first Beach Boy songs that

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

played on, contributing timbales, but regular drummer

Dennis Wilson Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...

still played. In January 1964, it was released as a single in Australia, becoming a top-10 hit. "Hawaii" made its way into the Beach Boys repertoire almost 50 years later.

Chart performance

"Hawaii" was released in Australia as a single, where it was reported as number two by Cash Box, charting at that position in the surveys of the premier radio stations of both Sydney and Brisbane during the Beach Boys' tour of Australia in February 1964. It was tabulated as eleventh for Australia's end-of-year survey.

Performers

;The Beach Boys *

David Marks David Lee Marks (born August 22, 1948) is an American guitarist who is best known for being an early member of the Beach Boys. While growing up in Hawthorne, California, Marks was a neighborhood friend of the original band members and was a freq ...

– harmony and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

; rhythm guitar *

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

, harmony and backing vocals * Brian Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals;

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

Al Jardine Alan Charles Jardine (born September 3, 1942) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as " Help Me, Rh ...

– harmony and backing vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Carl Wilson – harmony and backing vocals;

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

– harmony and backing vocals, drums *; Session musicians and production staff **

–

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico ...

** Chuck Britz –

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

Other notable covers

Hep Stars version

Swedish rock group

Hep Stars The Hep Stars are a Swedish rock band formed in Stockholm in 1963. During 1965–1966 the band was the most successful of contemporary 1960s Swedish pop groups performing in the English language. Outside the Nordic countries the band is best ...

recorded "Hawaii" as the B-Side to their 1966 single " Sunny Girl", one of the earliest

Benny Andersson Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, singer, composer and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess'', ''Kristina från Duvemåla'', and '' Mamma M ...

compositions. While "Sunny Girl" was a hit, reaching number 1 on both Kvällstoppen and ''

Tio i Topp ''Tio i Topp'' (English: ''Ten At The Top'') was a Swedish record chart and radio program broadcast by Sveriges Radio P3 between the years of 1961 and 1974. It was launched to combat pirate radio charts and was the first official Swedish record ...

,'' "Hawaii", despite being issued as the B-side, managed to chart on Kvällstoppen due to the popularity of Hep Stars. It stayed on the chart for two weeks, peaking at number 7 on March 22, 1966. "Hawaii" was recorded by the group as a joke, in style with their debut single "Kana Kapila" and "

Mashed Potatoes Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...

Personnel

* Svenne Hedlund – lead vocals * Janne Frisk – harmony vocals, guitar * Lennart Hegland – backing vocals *

– tambourine, backing vocals * Christer Pettersson – harmony vocals, drums

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawaii (The Beach Boys song) 1963 songs The Beach Boys songs Hep Stars songs Songs written by Brian Wilson Songs written by Mike Love Song recordings produced by Brian Wilson Capitol Records singles 1963 singles Songs about Hawaii