Kokua Line June Watanabe

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Jack DeMello penned Aloha’s longtime theme song

Question: Do you know who wrote the words and music to the theme song for Aloha Airlines, "The Wonderful World of Aloha"? That was truly a gem of a song for a commercial.

Answer: The credit goes to Jack DeMello, composer, arranger, conductor, recording artist and record label founder.

DeMello, now living in Las Vegas, wrote the song in 1968 when he was a senior vice president of Fawcett McDermott, said his son, Jon DeMello, chief executive of the Mountain Apple Co.

At the time, Fawcett McDermott was the advertising agency for Aloha, and "my father wrote the song for the airlines," he said.

Even though it was tied to the company, the song "had a more generic feel to it," the younger DeMello said. He recalled it was used in Aloha's television commercials for more than a year.

The shutdown of Aloha after 61 years "is very emotional," he said, noting that his father was a close friend of Hung Wo Ching, one of the founders of the company.

In 1999 the Star-Bulletin named Jack DeMello one of "100 Who Made a Difference" in Hawaii in the past century. DeMello was cited for producing "Music of Hawaii: From the Missionaries to Statehood" in 1965, described as "a unique and unequaled accomplishment in Hawaiian music."

Meanwhile, the airline might be gone, but the song lives on via YouTube.

The lyrics (from the video):

The wonderful world of Aloha
is not just a fanciful dream,
One wish and magic enfolds you,
Come with me, come with me.
The wonderful world of Aloha
is waiting to welcome you home,
One wish and happiness holds you,
Come with me, come with me.
Follow your heart,
Cross the horizon,
Follow your heart, follow your heart.
Fly on the wings of a tradewind
to our golden land by the sea,
You'll find a world that will capture you,
enrapture you,
So come with me,
Fly with me,
To the wonderful world,
To the wonderful, wonderful world
of Aloha.

MAHALO

To three very caring people. On March 20 my husband was cleaning the grass curbside on Leomele Street in Pearl City. A car came speeding down the street, then swerved to avoid a car reversing from a driveway. The car hit the curb a few feet from my husband, then kept on going. A couple in a brown-and-gold car and a man in a white truck went after the speeding car but couldn't find it. They came back to see if my husband was OK. My husband was not hurt. I just want to say mahalo to those three people. We really appreciate your thoughtfulness. God bless. -- Name Withheld