A 1916 popular song.
Words by Al Dubin.
Music by Rennie Cormack.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- Pat O’ Brien after buyin’
A ticket for the Sandwich Isles
His face all full of smiles
And after many trials
Paddy landed, then meandered
Where the Hula maidens sway
Oh, he met a Hula dancer
Down beside Hawaii Bay
She won his heart away
And I heard the other day
Chorus
O’ Brien is tryin’
To learn to talk Hawaiian
To his Honolulu Lou
He’s sighin’ and cryin’
And all the time he’s tryin’
Just to say “I love you true”
With his “Arrah Yaka Hula
Begorra icki Dula”
And his Irish “Ji-ji Boo”
Sure, O’ Brien is tryin’
To learn to talk Hawaiian
To his Honolulu Lou
- Paddy’s yearnin’ to be learnin’
To play the Ukalele, too
For his Honolulu Lou
Like all Hawaiians do
Paddy’s dancer doesn’t answer
When he starts to talk and shout
For when Paddy talks Hawaiian
No one know what it’s about
If his wife only knew
He’d be in an Irish stew
Chorus
O’ Brien is tryin’
To learn to talk Hawaiian
To his Honolulu Lou
He’s sighin’ and lyin’
In Irish and Hawaiian
To his wife and Lulu, too
While he writes a lot of blarney
To Katie in Killarney
And she thinks that he is true
Sure, O’ Brien is tryin’
To learn to talk Hawaiian
To his Honolulu Lou
- Paddy likes Hawaiian music
Because it’s such a novelty
He thinks the harmony
Is sweet as it can be
If he tries to he’ll get wise
To all the melodies he’s heard
And he knows some tunes already
But he doesn’t know a word
Hawaiian’s hard to get
With an Irish alphabet
Chorus
O’ Brien is tryin’
To learn to talk Hawaiian
To his Honolulu Lou
He’s sighin’ and cryin’
And all the time he’s tryin’
Just to say “I love you true”
He won Bridget, Kate and Mary
By singing “Tipperary”
And he’ll win his Lulu, too
For O’ Brien is tryin’
To learn to talk Hawaiian
To his Honolulu Lou