Mele Kalikimaka

"Mele Kalikimaka" (pronounced [ˈmɛlɛ kəˌlikiˈmɐkə]) is a Hawaiian-themed Christmas song written in 1949 by R. Alex Anderson. The song takes its title from the Hawaiian phrase Mele Kalikimaka, meaning "Merry Christmas".[1] One of the earliest recordings of this song was by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in 1950 on Decca [2]. It has been covered by many artists and used in several films (including L.A. Confidential, Catch Me If You Can and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.)

"Mele Kalikimaka"
Single
Released1950
Genre
Songwriter(s)
  • Robert Alex Anderson

History of the song

Anderson recalled the inspiration for writing the song in 1949 while working at Vonn Hamm-Young:[3]

Well, I'll tell ya, a stenographer in our office, this was just before Christmas, and we are all leaving (5 o'clock), and she was next to me and she said, "Mr. Anderson, how come there's no Hawaiian Christmas songs?" She said, "they take all the hymns and they put Hawaiian words to the hymns, but there's no original melody." Well, that spurred me right away – I thought, "what a good idea!" I thought this over, and over a period of a few days this came into my head, put it down on paper, and I've been singing it ever since.[4]

Bing Crosby was a frequent visitor and golf partner of Anderson. Anderson played the song for Crosby, who liked it so much that he surprised Anderson with the 1950 recording.[5] In 1955, the song became part of Crosby's famous compilation album Merry Christmas. According to Anderson's daughter Pam, the family still receives revenues from all over the world every year from his songs including Mele Kalikimaka.[5]

Origin of the phrase

The expression Mele Kalikimaka, despite its foreign sound, is actually borrowed directly from English. But since the Hawaiian language has a different phonological system from English, it is not possible to render a pronunciation that is especially close to Merry Christmas. Standard Hawaiian does not have the /r/ or /s/ sounds of English and its phonotactic constraints do not permit consonants at the end of syllables or consonant clusters. Thus the closest approximation to Merry Christmas is Mele Kalikimaka.[6] The earliest record of Mele Kalikimaka in print is from 1904, in the Hawaiian language newspaper Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, published between 1861 and 1927.[7]

Notable versions

The Beach Boys released a song of the same name but with completely different lyrics and music on their 1998 album Ultimate Christmas; it had been first released under the name "Kona Coast" on their 1978 album M.I.U. Album.[11]

References
  1. Elbert, S. & Pukui, M.; Hawaiian Dictionary, page 481
  2. "Decca matrix L 5830. Mele Kalikimaka / The Andrews Sisters ; Bing Crosby". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  3. Peter T Young (22 December 2019). "Mele Kalikimaka". Images of Old Hawaiʻi. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  4. kawika96797 (c. 1994). "R. Alex Anderson-Mele Kalikimaka". YouTube. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  5. "1998 Hall of Fame Honoree: R. Alex Anderson, The Composer Who Charmed Hawai'i and the World". Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015.
  6. Golston, Chris; Yang, Phong (2001), "White Hmong loanword phonology", in Féry, A.D. Green; van de Vijver, R. (eds.), Proceedings of HILP, 5, University of Potsdam: Potsdam, pp. 40–57
  7. Léo Azambuja (1 December 2015). "Mele Kalikimaka". For Kauai. Archived from the original on 27 March 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  8. "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  9. Alsmann, Götz. "Winterwunderwelt Vol. 2" [winter wonder world volume 2] (in German). Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  10. Shackleford, Tom. "Ingrid Michaelson announces 'Songs for the Season' holiday album and tour". AXS. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  11. Zolland (December 24, 2012). "The Beach Boys - Mele Kalikimaka (1977)". A Bit Like You And Me. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.