But I also have a very personal, emotional connection to this song.
It happened by chance, just like the discovery of Jung Dong Ha! The connection is this:
Last August 2016, I went to South Korea to visit Miki. Miki was living in Songdo-Incheon, teaching English in one of the private schools. But during his first Korean trip, he had lived in Jecheon - little town in the middle of the country. He had befriended a wonderful Korean couple, who had taken him under their wings, and "adopted" him, as their third adult child.
Both of us were invited to visit them in August 2016. We spent 2 and 1/2 days with them, traveling around the area in their van. Mr.Kwon, "the best driver in the world", liked to have the car radio on. I wasn't paying attention to the background music, but at some point, I suddenly heard the familiar tune! It was the Whale Hunt song, a different version, not rock style, sang by a group of men - some kind of old recording. Nevertheless my heart jumped!
And then, Mr. Kwon behind the wheel, burst into singing together with the radio! Therefore, whenever I hear it, I always think about our Jecheon adventures. Forever ♥
The first time I heard the song, and the name of it,"Whale Hunt", I was a bit perplexed.
So I asked Miki: "does this song really talk about hunting the whales?" Miki listened to it, and said that yes, but it also is talking about a trip on a train. It talked about jumping on a train, and going to the sea, to catch a whale.
Well, I thought it was a little strange, since to capture a whale, don't you jump on a boat, not a train? I had an inside feeling that there was a different meaning to this song. My online search revealed the lyrics, and reading them, I thought the "whale" must be a metaphor for dreams.
Recently I found some more background information.
The song, "Gorae Sanyang" is from 1975, by a famous singer Song Chang-Sik.
The 60-ties and 70-ties were a difficult period for Koreans. I will quote from the blog Not your average K-pop I found lately.
"(...) lyrics that reflected the depressed period that Korea was going through, under the military government. Folk music, flare jeans, men’s long hair, acoustic guitar were all symbols of defiance in Korea between 60’s and 70’s.
Especially, folk music that liberally spread the message of freedom was the target of military police enforcement. Men with a long hair were caught because they were most likely folk music fans and it meant they would possibly protest against the government. It was a dark, oppressing time (...)
The government excessively censored music and a number of music were banned for ridiculous reasons.(...) “Gorae Sanyang” was banned because of the title of the song, which means “Whale Hunting” in English. But really, the government knew what it implied.(...)In the song, the whale symbolizes the dream and hope. Especially of the young who were trampled, jailed, and even killed by the government because they claimed their civil rights and spread the truth about government corruption.(...)Musicians during this time couldn’t write the lyrics they wanted because of the strict censorship. They had to use metaphors, which unintentionally resulted in beautiful music.(...)
Only a deep sadness no matter how much drinking, singing, and dancing.
Looking around to see what to do, but all I see is people turned their back on.
Leave for the East Sea, take a local train, a third-class seat.
A dream from last night is forgotten when you wake up
But the dream that is remembered is the small, lovely whale
Leave for the East Sea, to catch the whale alive and breathing like a myth
Even though our love would be shattered, even though we would lose everything at once
We have it vividly in our heart, the lovely whale
I was so impressed when I saw during the performance, that the audience was totally familiar with the lyrics, and people were mouthing them together with the singers on stage.I'm really glad that Jung Dong Ha was a part of such a performance. It was entertaining, yet meaningful.
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