All of my friends tell me that they wanna visit Hawaii,
It must seem pretty beautiful there away from smoggy city air,
But the last time I went home a sorrow drifted through my soul,
The things I had hoped to see had all changed pretty drastically,
I don't want to see new buildings and I don't want to see new malls,
When I first went home it didn't look this way at all

I can’t go back,
I can’t go back,
I can't go back to Hawaii,
I can’t go back,
I can’t go back,
I can't go back to Hawaii

I want to that same old store,
It isn't there any more,
All of it has been replaced by an air-conditioned Circle K,
What happened to the trees that I knew or the streets where I grew up?
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til its gone?

[...] that’s not the one,
It’s not the same, not time [...]

I can’t go back,
I can’t go back,
I can't go back to Hawaii,
I can’t go back,
I can’t go back,
I can't go back to Hawaii

They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum
And charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see ‘em

I can’t go back,
I can’t go back,
I can't go back to Hawaii,
I can’t go back,
I can’t go back,
I can't go back to Hawaii