Watch the episode in glorious video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMV9ciAYePY
Hawaii has produced some great music unique to the islands with wonderful instruments like the ukulele, slack-key guitar, and the iconic electric lap steel guitar. Unfortunately this week’s episode doesn’t include any of that—instead, as usual, we veer toward the cheesy, blue-tinted Hollywood version of the music of the 50th state. With that in mind, here’s Elvis Presley with “Hawaiian Wedding Song”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PldpnJwKT8s&feature=fvwrel
If we could play in any band in the world, it would have to be Dr. Teeth and the Mayhem. With Animal on drums they take a swing at “Hawaiian War Chant”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTU7nahUw20
The great Hawaiian bandleader Don Ho was best known for this easy-listening classic “Tiny Bubbles”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlCiDEXuxxA
This is the first song we thought of when “Hawaii” appeared on the Roulette Wheel. The Ventures recorded it for the TV show Hawaii Five-0, and it reached #4 on the Billboard Pop charts. It has a guaranteed long life as a marching band standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHNYhACV0OM
