Tony's Web
Road to Seoul
(서울로 가는 길)
| performed by | Yang Hee-eun (양희은) | |
|---|---|---|
| lyrics and music by | Kim Min-gi (김민기) | |
| year released | 1972 | |
| album | Yang Hee-eun's Collection of Beautiful Songs 2 (양희은의 고운 노래 모음 2), 1972 |
| 서울로 가는 길 | Road to Seoul | |
|---|---|---|
| 우리 부모 병들어 누우신 지 삼 년에 | My parents bed-ridden with illness for three years | |
| 뒷산의 약초 뿌리 모두 캐어 드렸지 | Gave them all the herb roots pulled from the back hill | |
| 나 떠나면 누가 할까, 늙으신 부모 모실까 | With me gone, who's going to take care of my old folks | |
| 서울로 가는 길이 왜 이리도 멀으냐 | How come this road to Seoul is taking so long | |
| 아침이면 찾아와 울고 가던 까치야 | The magpie that comes by squawking every morning | |
| 나 떠나도 찾아와서 우리 부모 위로해 | Keep coming to give them consolation while I'm away | |
| 나 떠나면 누가 할까, 늙으신 부모 모실까 | With me gone, who's going to take care of my old folks | |
| 서울로 가는 길이 왜 이리도 멀으냐 | How come this road to Seoul is taking so long | |
| 앞에 가는 누렁아, 왜 따라 나서는거냐 | The brown doggy running before me, why are you out | |
| 돌아가 우리 부모 보살펴 드리렴 | Go right back now, be nice and look after my parents | |
| 나 떠나면 누가 할까, 늙으신 부모 모실까 | With me gone, who's going to take care of my old folks | |
| 서울로 가는 길이 왜 이리도 멀으냐 | How come this road to Seoul is taking so long | |
| 좋은 약 구하여서 내 다시 올 때까지 | Until the time I come back with some good medicine | |
| 집 앞의 느티나무, 그 빛을 변치 마라 | The oak tree out in front, you be good and stay green | |
| 나 떠나면 누가 할까, 늙으신 부모 모실까 | With me gone, who's going to take care of my old folks | |
| 서울로 가는 길이 왜 이리도 멀으냐 | How come this road to Seoul is taking so long |
| 서울로 가는 길 |
|---|
| 우리 부모 병들어 누우신 지 삼 년에 |
| 뒷산의 약초 뿌리 모두 캐어 드렸지 |
| 나 떠나면 누가 할까, 늙으신 부모 모실까 |
| 서울로 가는 길이 왜 이리도 멀으냐 |
| 아침이면 찾아와 울고 가던 까치야 |
| 나 떠나도 찾아와서 우리 부모 위로해 |
| 나 떠나면 누가 할까, 늙으신 부모 모실까 |
| 서울로 가는 길이 왜 이리도 멀으냐 |
| 앞에 가는 누렁아, 왜 따라 나서는거냐 |
| 돌아가 우리 부모 보살펴 드리렴 |
| 나 떠나면 누가 할까, 늙으신 부모 모실까 |
| 서울로 가는 길이 왜 이리도 멀으냐 |
| 좋은 약 구하여서 내 다시 올 때까지 |
| 집 앞의 느티나무, 그 빛을 변치 마라 |
| 나 떠나면 누가 할까, 늙으신 부모 모실까 |
| 서울로 가는 길이 왜 이리도 멀으냐 |
| Road to Seoul |
|---|
| My parents bed-ridden with illness for three years |
| Gave them all the herb roots pulled from the back hill |
| With me gone, who's going to take care of my old folks |
| How come this road to Seoul is taking so long |
| The magpie that comes by squawking every morning |
| Keep coming to give them consolation while I'm away |
| With me gone, who's going to take care of my old folks |
| How come this road to Seoul is taking so long |
| The brown doggy running before me, why are you out |
| Go right back now, be nice and look after my parents |
| With me gone, who's going to take care of my old folks |
| How come this road to Seoul is taking so long |
| Until the time I come back with some good medicine |
| The oak tree out in front, you be good and stay green |
| With me gone, who's going to take care of my old folks |
| How come this road to Seoul is taking so long |
Another Yang Hee-eun song composed by Kim Min-gi, it is about a fictitious man (or woman) who is trying everything he can to help his ailing parents. He is setting off on the road to Seoul in search of medicine that might cure them. He is in a hurry and can't waste any time but the road to Seoul seems to be too long and slow.
Just as every road went to Rome once, so it went to Seoul for Koreans for the past six centuries. People of all walks of life had to leave their hometown and go to Seoul for reasons as varied as you can imagine. Sometimes it was with a sweet dream for a better future, as in the case of bight students going there to study under a renowned teacher or school, but more often it was with the fear of entering a vast, unknown and hostile world. At the end of their rope, many had to set out on the road out of desperation, because that was where the action was, the place that offered any new possibilities, however unlikely. More often than not it was to escape from the all-familiar devil of poverty, which seemed to grab you by the neck and drag you around. The phrase road to Seoul has thus been a heavily nuanced one to many until recently, with associations of both good and bad kind.
Apart from the subject matter, the arrangement of rhythmic folksy guitar and flute backings is one of a kind, evoking something very Korean despite the fact that those instruments being hardly Korean in their origin.
