I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors) – English Lyrics

• By: Rachel House, Auli'i Cravalho
• Album: Moana

Lyrics & Translation

‘I Am Moana’ is an excellent song to explore English storytelling and emotional expression. Through its clear diction and powerful narrative, learners can practice emotive vocabulary and understand how personal identity is communicated through song.

[English]

I know a girl from an island

She stands apart from the crowd

She loves the sea and her people

She makes her whole family proud

Sometimes the world seems against you

The journey may leave a scar

But scars can heal and reveal just

Where you are

The people you love will change you

The things you have learned will guide you

And nothing on earth can silence

The quiet voice still inside you

And when that voice starts to whisper

Moana, you've come so far

Moana, listen

Do you know who you are?

Who am I?

I am a girl who loves my island

And the girl who loves the sea

It calls me

I am the daughter of the village chief

We are descended from voyagers

Who found their way across the world

They call me

I've delivered us to where we are

I have journeyed farther

I am everything I've learned and more

Still it calls me

And the call isn't out there at all

It's inside me

It's like the tide

Always falling and rising

I will carry you here in my heart

You remind me

That come what may

I know the way

I am Moana!

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
island /ˈaɪ.lənd/ A1	noun - a piece of land surrounded by water
crowd /kraʊd/ A2	noun - a large number of people gathered together
journey /ˈdʒɜːr.ni/ B1	noun - an act of traveling from one place to another verb - to travel from one place to another
scar /skɑːr/ B2	noun - a mark left on the skin after a wound has healed
heal /hiːl/ B1	verb - to become healthy or sound again
reveal /rɪˈviːl/ B2	verb - to make known to others; to show
silence /ˈsaɪ.ləns/ B2	verb - to cause someone or something to become quiet
whisper /ˈwɪs.pər/ B1	verb - to speak very softly using one's breath rather than one's throat
daughter /ˈdɔː.tər/ A1	noun - a female child in relation to her parents
voyagers /ˈvɔɪ.ɪ.dʒərz/ C1	noun - people who go on long journeys, especially by sea
tide /taɪd/ B2	noun - the regular rise and fall of the sea
rising /ˈraɪ.zɪŋ/ A2	verb - moving upward; increasing
carry /ˈkæri/ A2	verb - to hold and move something from one place to another