Yesterday, I began my quest to hunt down the Hawaiian Christmas song I'd heard on the radio over the weekend. I went to the station's website, and while they did list the songs they played, it was only for the day, not for last Saturday. Uh-oh, I thought.
Fearing the worst, I did an online search for Hawaiian Christmas song and in a miracle of the season, I hit it on the first try. The title is Mele Kalikimaka. Half the battle was won. All that was left was figuring out who sang the version I heard and where to buy an MP3 of the song. It would turn out that my answer to both would be in the same place--Amazon.
In the back of my mind, I figured it would be Don Ho or some other Hawaiian musical artist, but I discovered the song was widely recorded by a lot of singers--a surprise to me since I'd never heard it before--and that none of them were Don Ho. :-) My top three candidates ended up being Bing Crosby (that was a surprise!), Jimmy Buffett and Chris Isaak. I decided Isaak was a long shot because I have his Heart-Shaped World CD and this didn't sound like him.
I listened to a clip from Bing Crosby and I was pretty sure it wasn't him, but these darn snippets are so short, it was hard to be 100% certain. I listened to Jimmy Buffett next. Hmm. Maybe. I tried Chris Isaak and I was right--it wasn't him. I listened to a few other versions, but it was definitely between Bing and Jimmy. After listening to each clip one more time, I decided it must have been Jimmy Buffett and bought the song. If I was wrong, it was only 89 cents. :-) After listening to the entire thing, I know I picked the right song.
So Mele Kalikimaka! It's the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day. :-)
