Songfacts®:

• John Lydon wrote "Hawaii" as a heartfelt tribute to his wife of nearly 45 years, Nora Forster. Nora, who battled Alzheimer's disease, passed away on April 6, 2023, at the age of 80. Among Lydon's happiest memories with Nora is an idyllic vacation in Hawaii. Their special getaway inspired this tender ballad.
  
  "At the end of a Public Image Ltd tour of Japan, we had to change flights in Hawaii for some weird booking reason," he recalled to The Sun. "I decided to stay there for a bit and got Nora to fly out to meet me. We had a fantastic holiday."
• Aloha
  Well, hello there
  Aloha, Hawaii
  
  The emotional ballad marks a shift for Lydon, veering away from PiL's post-punk intensity to embrace a much softer and tender sound. "Not enjoyable to compose but with a wonderful result that Nora loved and appreciated," he said. "The loveliest thing about the lyrics - and she knew this too - is the word aloha because it means hello AND goodbye in Hawaiian."
• John Lydon wrote the gentle song with his Public Image bandmates, drummer Bruce Smith, guitarist Lu Edmonds and bassist Scott Firth. It originated with Lydon hearing Edmonds fooling around in the corner of the studio. "[He] was playing Hawaiian guitar for a laugh," Lydon told The Guardian. "I thought: that's so excellent."
• "Hawaii" is the closing track of End of World. PiL released the song as the lead single from the album on January 9, 2023.
• Lydon's parents were Irish, and the PiL frontman entered the song in Ireland's Eurovision heats as part of his campaign to raise awareness about the harsh impact of Alzheimer's disease. In early February 2023, Lydon performed "Hawaii" for the first time during Ireland's contest to decide its Eurovision entry.
  
  "The world is fed up with criticizing me, about time they flipped the coin! I love the show in Ireland for giving me the opportunity to perform it before Nora died," he said. "She even picked out the pink suit I wore. It was heartbreaking to sing it live, knowing what was coming, but it had to be done. That's the story of my life really. You use adversity as a weapon. You fight back."
• "Hawaii" finished fourth out of sixth in the Irish Eurovision heats. "Playing it for the first time was so hard for me," Lydon said. "I shed more tears for her before she died than after. It was that build up to her death, and that's what that song is absolutely full of."
• John Lydon sees "Hawaii" as having parallels with Public Image's 1979 song "Death Disco."
  
  "They are different approaches to death," he explained to Uncut magazine. "'Death Disco' was written in screaming agony, as my mother was dying in hospital. At first I was shellshocked. I knew she was going to die. I just couldn't accept it. Hawaii is more accepting. It's a more joyful song. I cannot allow self-pity in this. My mum and dad would turn in their graves if I did. There is no Edgar Allan Poe in me."