When I can’t find the sheet music, then I feel compelled to write it. Every 1st day of May is Lei Day in Hawaii. While there are plenty of song sheets, I couldn’t find a decent “free” lead sheet or sheet music. I listened to a few YouTube videos and wrote this one for the ukulele.
The song “May Day is Lei Day” was composed by Carol Colombe and Leonard “Red” Hawk 1927-1929). Read about how May Day became Lei Day.
My arrangement starts in F major. It repeats. It modulates to G major with a transition chord progression of secondary dominants, namely E7 is the dominant of A7 which is the dominant of D7 which is the dominant of the new key of G.
The famous Hawaiian vamp is an instrumental introduction to a song making use of such secondary dominant chord progressions. I gave workshops on the Hawaiian vamp in Zoom and in person. If you go to a Hawaiian song session (jam session), you’ll hear it as introduction though it’s not always written (or at all) in song sheets.
May Day is Lei Day song sheets
- in C. and in C
- in F
- in F then G
Today’s Google Doodle is a ukulele. Visit to learn more about it.
