Lahaina

Lahaina Beach on the island of Maui

I got lots of wonderful comments and tweets last week when I remembered the great youth group song Pharaoh, Pharaoh.  So many of my readers had fond memories of rocking out to that song, and talked about how much fun it was (and in some cases, still is!) to let loose when doing music at youth group.  But as wonderful as Pharaoh was, it is only #2 on my list of songs that used to shake the very foundations of our youth room.  There is only one #1- and it is Lahaina.


Lahaina was an obscure little song off of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina's 1973 album, Full Sail.  Through the years I have sung the song with youth from all over the country at conferences and camps, and for some the song is synonymous with me.  But it is not my song.  I knew the original recording, but had never really thought about it as a song to use with a youth group until I returned to Quaker Lake Camp in the late 80s as a Camp Pastor.   My old friends (and former New Garden Friends Meeting youth group members) Jay Wilkins and Darek Newby were serving as the song leaders at that time and they asked me to play alongside them.  Much to my surprise, I saw that Lahaina had been added to the song sheets.  The guys had changed one word ("rum" became "tea"), sped it up a bit, made the last line of each verse a bit more "screamo" and added some dance moves.  I was stunned- it was beyond awesome!  Among the great features of the song as we did it later on in various youth groups and camps were the Human Maracas (people making sounds like maracas while the rest of the group sang the words) during the chorus, and the countdown we added ("1,2, 1-2-3-4!") leading up to the world famous Bo-Dohs.  As you can hear on the video below, there are 4 lines of Bo-Dohs each time they occur, and after each line we would all leap into the air and spin to the left...or the right...we were never all that consistent!  This meant that at the end, you were facing the front of the room again.  It was wild, it was crazy, and it was impossible not to enjoy. Plus it was OUR song. Anytime we sang it other youth groups looked at us with a bit of shock, awe & envy.  


Over time the song became not only a great sing-a-long song, but also a great mood changer and ice breaker.  Every now and then, for no reason and usually without warning, I would simply do the countdown...and students would leap to their feet and do a round of the Bo-Dohs.  My favorite memory of that was on an airplane headed to NYC, and I suddenly counted down.  It is very hard to leap and spin while seated with your tray tables in the locked and upright position.  :)


There were an awful lot of great songs we sang in youth groups over the years, and many of them had great spiritual depth and meaning. Many of them gave us new windows into our faith and our Savior.  Many of those songs are still near and dear to the hearts of dozens of the youth I served.  This is a silly song about a centipede.  But the one song I know I could walk into a room full of my youth group alumni and start playing that would make them get to their feet and make their eyes light up would have to be Lahaina.  As they read this I know they are ready...just waiting...for me to do the countdown (perhaps even in Spanish...) so they can go wild.  And that is a memory I will always cherish.  If you were not in one my groups or didn't go to Quaker Lake, you may not have ever heard this song before. If you ever sing with students, you need to learn this song! Watch the video.  Experiment with the changes, or call me and I'll sing it for you.  Learn to Bo-Doh.  And have a blast in the name of Jesus!  Who says Christians don't have fun?

Because of Jesus,