About Lava Song Lyrics
Lava” is a romantic song featured throughout the Pixar computer-animated short film of the same name. The theme song tells the sad, romantic story of Uku, the volcano, and how he wishes to find a mate. “Lava” was written for the Disney/Pixar 2014 computer-animated film short of the same title that played before the 2015 feature film “Inside Out.”
The movie short is a musical love story that takes place over millions of years. It is set to a song that was inspired by the “isolated beauty of tropical islands and the explosive allure of ocean volcanoes.”
James Ford Murphy directed, wrote, and played ukulele on the recording. Produced by Andrea Warren, it premiered at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival on June 14, 2014, and was theatrically released alongside Pixar’s Inside Out on June 19, 2015.
In an interview with Honolulu-based KHON-TV, Murphy explained that his interest in Hawaii began 25 years prior while honeymooning on the main island of Hawai’i. Years later, he heard Israel Kamakawiwoʻole’s rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” which touched him. “I put together this fascination and love and this experience I had with my wife in Hawaii, with this feeling I had for this song and thought, wow, if I could blend those two things, it would be really—a film I would love to see.”
The idea began to coalesce while attending the wedding of his sister, who married at the age of 43. “As my sister stood up on the altar, I thought about how happy she was and how long she’d waited for her very special day. There, at my sister’s wedding, I remembered Loihi and I had an epiphany… What if my sister was a volcano? And what if volcanoes spend their entire lives searching for love, like humans do?”
The seven-minute musical film is undeniably adorable. It is now one of the most charming and popular Disney songs and lyrics.
Watch The Lava Song Video
Lava Lyrics
Lava Lyrics from the Disney/Pixar “Lava” Movie
[Intro]
Narrator : [Kuana Torres Kahele]
A long long time ago there was a volcano
Living all alone in the middle of the sea
He sat high above his bay watching all the couples play
And wishing that he had someone too And from his lava came this song of hope that he sang
Out loud every day for years and years
Living all alone in the middle of the sea
He sat high above his bay watching all the couples play
And wishing that he had someone too
And from his lava came this song of hope that he sang
Out loud every day for years and years
Uku (The lonely Volcano): Kuana Torres Kahele
I have a dream I hope will come true
That you’re here with me and I’m here with you
I wish that the earth, sea, the sky up above-a
Will send me someone to lava
Years of singing all alone turned his lava into stone
Until he was on the brink of extinction
Until he was on the brink of extinction
But little did he know that living in the sea below
Another volcano was listening to his song
Every day she heard his tune her lava grew and grew
Because she believed his song was meant for her
Now she was so ready to meet him above the sea
As he sang his song of hope for the last time
Another volcano was listening to his song
Every day she heard his tune her lava grew and grew
Because she believed his song was meant for her
Now she was so ready to meet him above the sea
As he sang his song of hope for the last time
[Uku]
I have a dream I hope will come true
That you’re here with me and I’m here with you
I wish that the earth, sea, the sky up above-a
Will send me someone to lava
Will send me someone to lava
[Narrator]
Rising from the sea below stood a lovely volcano
Looking all around but she could not see him
He tried to sing to let her know that she was not there alone
But with no lava, his song was all gone
He filled the sea with his tears and watched his dreams disappear
As she remembered what his song meant to her
Looking all around but she could not see him
He tried to sing to let her know that she was not there alone
But with no lava, his song was all gone
He filled the sea with his tears and watched his dreams disappear
As she remembered what his song meant to her
[Lele (Love interest of Uku)]
I have a dream I hope will come true
That you’re here with me and I’m here with you
I wish that the earth, sea, the sky up above-a
Will send me someone to lava
Oh they were so happy to finally meet above the sea
All together now their lava grew and grew
No longer are they all alone with aloha as their new home
And when you visit them this is what they sing
[Outro: Uku and Lele]
I have a dream I hope will come true
That you’ll grow old with me and I’ll grow old with you
We thank the earth, sea, the sky we thank too.
I lava you
I lava you
I lava you
That you’ll grow old with me and I’ll grow old with you
We thank the earth, sea, the sky we thank too
I lava you
Lava Lyrics Facts & Trivia
- “The Lava” song is performed by Kuana Torres Kahele and Napua Greig, who voice the two volcanoes.
- While on vacation in Hawaii in 2011, Murphy learned about Lo’ihi, an underwater volcano growing next to the Big Island and eventually merging with it. He began reflecting on the fact Big Island is the merging of five volcanoes and wondered whether the new volcano would know the presence of the others and vice versa, which inspired him to do a love story.
- Murphy also cites his sister’s marriage at age 43 as an inspiration for the song’s theme of looking for love for a lifetime. Murphy also cites his sister’s marriage at the age of 43 as an inspiration for the theme of looking for love for a lifetime.
- Murphy learned to play ukulele and eventually composed the song on the basis of and featured in the short, which was part of his original pitch.
- An important inspiration for the music was Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s rendition of the song “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”
Watch The Disney/Pixar “Lava” Video
Lava Movie Facts & Trivia
- Director James Ford Murphy graduated from Marquette University, where he was a classmate of Chris Farley‘s.
- Murphy was interested in making a character that would also be a location. He said: “I thought it would be so cool to fall in love with a place who’s also a character. I wanted to make Uku appealing and likable but also look like he’s been carved out of lava flows.”
- On the technical side, the short was an exploration of large-scale shots, which tend to be difficult for computers to process because of the amount of detail.
- To give a sense of scale, cameras were set so that they would behave with the physics of a real helicopter. They incorporated a speedometer, preventing them from going faster than 120 mph.
- The production team struggled with the fact that, as volcanoes, their characters are fixed and shouldn’t be moving. Supervising Animator Aaron Hartline mentioned that they found the sense of scale was lost if Uku’s movements were too important, and as such, his expressions had to be communicated mainly through his eyes and mouth, whose stretching had to be limited too. Most of his face is non-movable, and the mouth and eyes are made of sliding pieces rather than squash and stretch.
- The problem of immobility was also dealt with by varying camera angles and involving mobile elements like animals or clouds.
- The cameras, editing, and movements of the animals were inspired by the Hula.
Director James Ford Murphy has said that the character Uku is based on the late Hawaiian musician and entertainer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. Like Kamakawiwo’ole, Uku is a musically-gifted gentle giant. - Uku’s face is based on those of his voice actor Kuana Torres Kahele, Jackie Gleason, and the bulldog Marc Antony in Feed the Kitty.
- At the same time, the appearance of Uku and Lele is based on real geographical places. For instance, both take inspiration from Kaua’i, Na Pali Coast in particular. Lele’s black hair is inspired by Kilauea, and the waterfall that unites them at the end is inspired by Papalaua Falls.
- The names Uku and Lele are an obvious pun on “ukulele.”
- Kuana Torres Kahale noted “Uku” means “head lice” in Hawaiian Pidgin and joked he hopes no one starts calling him “Uku” after the short is released, as “it would be kind of shame.”
- The two turtles mating in this short might be a reference to the turtles from Finding Nemo
- Most of the animation was created by a group of interns working for one of the animators.
- This is the only Pixar computer-animated short film with a song that has lyrics.
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