"Aloha Oe" (Farewell to Thee) is Liliuokalani's most
famous song with a common cultural Leitmotif for
Hawaii. The song was inspired by a notable farewell
embrace given by Colonel James Harbottle Boyd during a
horseback trip taken by Princess Liliuokalani to the
Boyd ranch in Maunawili on the windward side of Oahu,
and that the members of the party hummed the tune on
the way back to Honolulu. According to the most
familiar version of the story: This tender farewell set
Liliuokalani to thinking, ...(+)
"Aloha Oe" (Farewell to Thee) is Liliuokalani's most
famous song with a common cultural Leitmotif for
Hawaii. The song was inspired by a notable farewell
embrace given by Colonel James Harbottle Boyd during a
horseback trip taken by Princess Liliuokalani to the
Boyd ranch in Maunawili on the windward side of Oahu,
and that the members of the party hummed the tune on
the way back to Honolulu. According to the most
familiar version of the story: This tender farewell set
Liliuokalani 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 Liliuokalani 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.