그대 품에서 잠들었으면 If only I could sleep in your bosom

 

Paik Young-gyu was born in 1952 right in the middle of Korea War period in Inchon. He majored in the Italian at the University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, but his passion was always in music. He was successful. As a singer-songwriter he released a series of hit songs in 1980s.  His was mostly of sad love songs in Korean folk style. When he came to wtite this song, he was a popular singer already with many hits to his name. Somehow he gave this beautiful song titled “그대 품에 잠들었으면 “, or  “If only I could sleep in your bosom”, to Park Jung -Soo, who was an aspring singer with an engineering degree, like Paik himself with no-entertainment background, perhaps because he couldn’t find no other singer, including himself, to reproduce the feel he had sought to create with this song. It turned out to be a huge hit, bigger than any other songs of his own singing. Despite the size of the hit, this song has been rarely covered by other professional singers, to another evidence for the difficulty in reproducing the core feel of this song.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lyrics

나는 그대의 빈틈이 있었다면 사랑했을 것이다 사랑했을 것이다 어둠은 내려 앉는데 음 음

If I had found a crack in you, I would have loved even that, loved it, now the darkness settlles down outside

그대 들려줄 한줄 시도 못쓰고 기억속으로 차가운 안개비 안개비만 내린다

Even the first line of the poem for you unfinished, the misty rain falls down cold into the memory 

홑이불처럼 사각거리며 가슴 저미는 그리움 쌓이고 세상이 온통 시들었어도

Rustling like a crispy blanket is the layer of longings that pervades my heart, withered is the whole world

깊고 고요한 그대 품에서 잠들었으면 잠시라도 잠들었으면

I am just yearning for a sleep in your bosom, deep and serene, if only for a moment

그대 들려줄 한줄 시도 못쓰고 기억속으로 차가운 안개비 안개비만 내린다

Even the first line of the poem for you unfinished, the misty rain falls down cold into the memory

홑이불처럼 사각거리며 가슴 저미는 그리움 쌓이고 세상이 온통 시들었어도

 Rustling like a crispy blanket is the layer of longings that pervades my heart, withered is  the whole world

깊고 고요한 그대 품에서 잠들었으면 잠시라도 잠들었으면 그대 품에서 잠들었으면

I am just yearning for a sleep in your bosom, deep and serene, if only for a moment

그대 품에서 잠들었으면 그대 품에서 잠들었으면 그대 품에서 잠들었으면

I am just yearning for a sleep in your bosom, I am just yearning for a sleep in your bosom

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 Yang Ha-young in 2017 on stage accompanied by the very writer of the song Paik Young-gyu 

end.

Sy Jo, Author of this article, was born in Busan, and majored in Business Administration at Yonsei University. He worked in  the telecommunication industry, specializing in telecommunications policy and international relations.