Song Analysis - Happy Hawaii

Happy Hawaii is a song that is a perfect example of how ABBA, or more specifically Bjorn and Benny, would reuse and recycle their melodies if they for some reason didn't like how the song originally turned out.  

From what I can piece together, in April 1976, ABBA began working on a demo titled Why Did It Have To Be Me.  But then the song changed vibes entirely and became Hawaii, and from there, in May 1976, became Happy Hawaii.  However, the song didn't stay as Happy Hawaii, with the song going back to Why Did It Have To Be Me, in August of 1976.

Happy Hawaii is basically about a woman who's so done with "work", she's taking a vacation to Hawaii.  From the first part of the song, it just sounds like she needs a vacation from her busy job, longing for walks in the sand, swimming and surfing, and enjoying the beauty that is Hawaii.  Her friend Alice had been here before, had good things to say, so she's really excited.  

 However, as the song progresses, specifically in the second verse, you get the line "I can imagine the beach and the sand, walking with someone and holding his hand. Hey Honolulu, I’m going to happy Hawaii" which indicates the song is actually about love, and leaving a relationship, rather than taking a break from a job.  It's further emphasized by the last line of the song, "I’ve got a feeling the dream will come true, somebody’s waiting and I forget you. Hey Honolulu, I’m going to happy Hawaii."  I find it pretty cool, how the song suddenly takes a sudden twist and is revealed to be about something entirely different.  Kind of similar to Crazy World or Two For The Price Of One in that manner, but not necessarily taking the humorous route.  Or maybe it is, I don't know.

I like this song a lot.  The instruments are fun, Agnetha and Frida have some lovely join vocals, and some fun vocals from the guys as well, with some "lulu, I'm going to Honolulu, I'm going to Honolulu" repeated throughout the verses.  It's really fun and clever lyrics, and I like it a lot.  I also find the use of the name Alice interesting, as the name also later got used in Two For The Price Of One.

Although Happy Hawaii was recorded and completed in 1976 for ABBA's upcoming Arrival album, the song ultimately got recycled into Why Did It Have To Be Me, which was released on Arrival  Usually when that happens, the various original versions of the songs don't see the light of day and don't get an official release.  Like, for example, ABBA's song I Am An A from the 1977 tour, a simple funny song introducing each ABBA member, was never recorded in the studio, but the melody was reused for the track from 1978, Free As A Bumblebee.  But that song also never got officially released (there's a snippet of it included in ABBA Undeleted but that's all we ever get to hear of it), and instead Bjorn and Benny reused the melody for I Know Him So Well for their musical Chess.  However, clearly ABBA liked Happy Hawaii enough that in early 1977, the song was released as the B-side to Knowing Me, Knowing You, and was explicitly labeled as "Happy Hawaii (Early version of Why Did It Have To Be Me.)  As far as I know that's the only case of them officially releasing a song that was turned into another song after the finalized song was already released.

ABBA never performed Happy Hawaii, but the song was turned into a cartoon for what was possibly going to be an ABBA cartoon, maybe similar to the Beatles cartoon show?  I'm not sure. But the ABBA animated tv-show didn't end up going through, but in 2006 this clip was made public. 

 

Honestly not a big fan of the animating or the idea of an ABBA cartoon, so I'm glad they didn't go through with it, but the song is still amazing and I like it a lot.