Aia kēia mele i ka puke He Mele Aloha ma ka ʻaoʻao 173.

“While you are searching all over, consider Mī nei — Me, right here. The offer is extended, with careful listing of virtues and features.” (He Mele Aloha, pg. 173)

Aia kēia mele i ka puke He Mele Aloha ma nā ʻaoʻao 186-187.

“Composed by Samuel Kuahiwi around 1928, this tribute to the departed chiefs contains two famous sayings. The first is ‘E hele a moe i ka ala,’ known from Kamehameha’s ‘Law of the splintered paddle,’ which guaranteed the safe passage for women, children and the infirm. The second is ‘Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono,’ Kamehameha III’s 1843 statement that became Hawaiʻi’s motto, and translates ‘The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.’” (He Mele Aloha, pg. 187)

Aia kēia mele i ka puke He Mele Aloha ma ka ʻaoʻao 214.

“This composition by Robert Cazimero reminds us that the urge to hold a dear one can come at any time, even waking you from a deep sleep.” (He Mele Aloha, pg. 214)

Aia kēia mele i ka puke He Mele Aloha ma ka ʻaoʻao 225.

“One of the most beautiful and erotic Hawaiian love poems, written by Alfred Unauna Alohikea, who was a master kaona. A natural musician who could not read or write music, Alohikea was Kauaʻi’s composter laureate. A farmer, fisherman, and quite a lady’s man, he often sailed between Kauaʻi, Niʻihau and Oʻahu, to trade fish and taro. There was a ‘Lily’ on each of the islands. He wrote the lyrics on one trip and the melody on another. His ex-wife, present wife and girlfriend were all at his side on his deathbed.” (Huapala.org)

Aia kēia mele i ka puke He Mele Aloha ma ka ʻaoʻao 226.

“Mary Kawena Pukui and Kahauanu Lake composed this for Maʻiki Aiu Lake, and it is danced today with much aloha by her many students and disciples. Maʻiki was raised in Pālolo, and was thus given the lyrical name Līlīlehua after the famous rain goddess of that name, a legendary lady of Pālolo who was courted by a moʻo. The lady had a human sweetheart; of course the moʻo was jealous.” (He Mele Aloha, pg. 226)

Aia kēia mele i ka puke He Mele Aloha ma ka ʻaoʻao 227.

“John “Squeeze” Kamana left us not only this song, but the story of its creation. Squeeze had the music in his mind as early as 1933, in the days when he would sit under the tree on the beach by the Moana Hotel playing music and watching his young daughter, Leone Kananipuamaeʻole, play in the water. But it wasn’t until 1954, that the poetry came to him, a song complete, when he visualized her running up from the water, blossoming from a small child into a beautiful grown woman.” (He Mele Aloha, pg. 227)

Aia kēia mele i ka puke He Mele Aloha ma nā ʻaoʻao 276-277.

“Helen Lindsey Parker tells the story of three cowboys from Waimen, Hawaiʻi — ʻIkuā Purdy, Archie Kaʻauʻa, and Ebon ʻJackʻ Low — who competed in the international rodeo competition in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1907. ʻIkuā was declared world champion and, it was reported, received a standing ovation. Kaʻauʻa took third place and Low placed sixth. ʻHelen Lindsey Parker was an excellent horsewoman. She spent her life on the ranches of the Big Island, understood perfectly the life of the paniolo — and happened to be a musician and singer with a beautiful voice.’” (He Mele Aloha, pg. 277)