A gentle Hawaiian cowboy lament.

A lonesome paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) misses his sweetheart, and sings to her as he rides along the trail on the slopes of Mauna Kea.

The Big Island is home to thousands of cattle and horses and the paniolos who look after them. This song is for the paniolos.

On the hills above Waimea
A lonesome cowboy rides
Up the trail to Mauna Kea
Through the green, green countryside.
He is singing to his sweetheart
Who is oh, so far away,
Won't you come back? Won't you come back?

        Chorus
Come back, come back to Kamuela
Where the paniolos ride
And the whales come from Alaska
To play in Kohala's tide
Where the hot red river tumbles down Kilauea's Southern side
Oh please come back, Oh please come back,
To Kamuela.

Don't you miss the soft wind blowing
Through the jacaranda trees?
Don't you miss the breakers rolling
on the great Pacific sea?
Don't you miss your paniolo,
Oh, so far away?
Won’t you come back, come back to me!

        Chorus

Won't you come back, Oh please come back, to Kamuela!

© 2004 Linda W. Purdy