Moana Cast - We Know The Way Lyrics

Moana Cast Lyrics

"We Know The Way"
(performed by Opetaia Foa'i & Lin-Manuel Miranda)
(from "Moana" soundtrack)

[Opetaia Foa'i:]
Tatou o tagata folau vala’auina
Le atua o sami tele e o mai
Ua ava’e le lu’itau e lelei
Tapenapena

Olo, olo vaka

Aue, aue
Nuku i mua
Te manulele e tataki e
Aue, aue
Te fenua, te mālie
Nae ko hakilia kaiga e

[Lin-Manuel Miranda:]
We read the wind and the sky when the sun is high
We sail the length of the seas on the ocean breeze
At night, we name every star
We know where we are
We know who we are, who we are

Aue, aue
We set a course to find
A brand new island everywhere we roam
Aue, aue
We keep our island in our mind
And when it's time to find home
We know the way

Aue, aue
We are explorers reading every sign
We tell the stories of our elders in a never-ending chain
Aue, aue
Te fenua, te mālie
Nā heko hakilia
We know the way

Submit Corrections

Thanks to Cath for correcting these lyrics.

Writer(s): Lin-manuel Miranda, Opetaia Tavita Foa'i

This was the first song written and composed for the film by Mark Mancina, Opetaia Foa'i, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The latter explained to FilmIsNow, "'We Know The Way' was really the first song we all wrote together for the movie. Opetaia brought in the melody and the lyrics in his native language, and then Mark and I got in there and just sort of started playing with him, like really just vibing out, playing drums…"

Opetaia Foa'i told about his song-writing experience, "I write via emotions, you know? I can feel where it goes. So we have this amazing collaboration between the three of us, where all these papers lying around with all these dots on it and I'm throwing emotions in there… it takes us to a nice place."

Opetaia Foa'i and his band premiered We Know The Way live at the 2015 D23 Expo.

"We Know The Way" lyrics

Moana Cast Lyrics