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Source: here |
I used to think that true love is only real when shared. As I’m growing up, I learn that true love doesn’t guarantee happiness. It’s true that happiness is only real when shared, but true love is way deeper than that. You know it’s a true love when you’re willing to do anything to make the person you love happy, even if it means that you have to let that person goes to be with someone else. You know, like Severus Snape loves Lily Potter. Always, though you understand that you would never have that person. True love is only imagination, yet your soul just couldn’t stop. Oh crap, okay that sounds cheesy! I know that it’s a kind of bullshit when you say that you would be happy seeing someone you love with somebody else. But, come on, relationship works both ways indeed, but love doesn’t. That’s why there’s a kind of love that called unrequited love. And when you can contain yourself, be able to let that person go, but not the love, and at the same time you still watch over and protect that person, even from a far, well that’s kind of love that I would refer as true love. Just like how Severus loved Lily; always.
“Even
if you’re just in a dream, I wish that I could touch you. I could only run
accidentally into you in a short moment, but that time is everything for me.”
–Jo Kwan Woo, Swamp (늪)
Talking
about unrequited love, here is My
Choices: Continue Living song for today; a song titled “Swamp (늪)”, performed by one of Korean legendary male solo singers, Jo Kwan
Woo. The ballad blues song was first released on September 1994, served as the
title song for Jo’s debut album titled “My First Story”. The song stood out for
Jo’s sob-like singing method and high notes which rank between five octaves.
Jo’s unique voice and new wave of pop music style brought the song and the
album into fame. The album were sold about more than 1.3 million copies, and
also, his nationwide concerts were sold out too.
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"My First Story" album cover - source: maniadb.com |
Just
like I’ve mentioned before, we’re talking about unrequited love here, and the
lyrics of “Swamp (늪)” tell about a man who falls for a woman he
can never have. Love comes suddenly and it’s like you can’t choose whomever you
fall in it with, indeed. Who knows that the magical feeling you have would turn
into a painful one-sided affection? “Between the closed curtains, that
was the first time I saw you. Everything seemed to have stopped for a moment,
and love bloomed in my heart.” It also comes suddenly
like a strike of thunder, the time when you realize that your love will never
be. It turns your heart to black and cold.
“In my blackened heart, flowers won’t bloom. In my closed heart, a cold wind is
blowing.” Yet love is not a lamp that you can switch on and off as you
please. You can only continue dreaming, in hope that it would come true
someday. You can only continue admiring from a far, wishing that your feeling
could be recognized somehow. You can only continue waiting, don’t know until
when.
“Even if it’s just a
dream, I wish that I could touch you. I could only run accidentally into you in
a short moment, but that time is everything for me. I just couldn’t stop it, I
know that I have to turn back at that time then. I used to be waiting for you,
as I always cry behind my back.” For you, for the one
with unrequited love, true love is an imagination that even your own soul can’t
stop. It’s like a swamp you can’t escape from. Before you know it, you’ve
already trapped inside and can’t get out. And just like that, your love is
blown away, as you desperately pick up every little pieces of it and bury it in
the deep of your heart. It remains there as forever unrequited love. “There’s a party in my room tonight, with
the flower I have prepared for you has already wilted. I already fell into a
swamp, there’s not even a memory to be shared. Emptying the glasses, I smile
without any strength as I’m inviting you into my imagination again. Even until
now, nobody knows.”
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Lee Se Jun performed "Swamp" in "Immortal Songs 2" |
Lee
Se Jun, a member of Korean folk duo Yurisangja, performed “Swamp (늪)” in an entertainment music program, “Immortal Songs 2: Singing the
Legend”. It was on episode 164, during the second part of “Million-Seller” special episodes. This episode was
broadcasted by KBS television station on September 6th 2014, and followed by an
airing on KBS World channel on September 27th 2014. Before his performance, Lee
stated that the song is his favorite since he was young. Therefore he was so
excited. In result, his rendition of “Swamp (늪)” was beyond expectation, in a very great way! He
re-arranged the song into a ballad orchestra with the touch of soft rock. It
was spectacularly heartwrenching, and of course, Lee’s voice was breathtaking!
“I
just couldn’t stop it, I know that I have to turn back at that time then. I
used to be waiting for you, as the tears keep falling behind my back.”
–Jo Kwan Woo, Swamp (늪)
“Garyeojin keoten teum sairo
cheoeum geudael boatji
(Between
the closed curtains, that was the first time I saw you)
Sungan modeun geotsi
meomchun deuthaetgo gaseumen sarangi
(Everything
seemed to have stopped for a moment, and love bloomed in my heart)
Kkumirado jogetseo
neukkilsuman itdamyeon
(Even
if it’s just a dream, I wish that I could touch you)
Uyeoncheoreom geudael
majuchineun sungani naegen jeonbuyeotjiman
(I
could only run accidentally into you in a short moment, but that time is
everything for me)
Meomchulsuga eobseotseo
geuttaen doraseoya haneun geotdo ara
(I
just couldn’t stop it, I know that I have to turn back at that time then)
Gidarime iksukhaejin
nae moseubdwien eonjena nunmuri
(I
used to be waiting for you, as I always cry behind my back)
Kkamage tabeorin
gaseumen kkotji pijil angetji
(In
my blackened heart, flowers won’t bloom)
Gutge datchyeobeorin
nae gaseumsoken chagaun barami
(In
my closed heart, a cold wind is blowing)
Kkumirado jogetseo geudael
neukkilsuman itdamyeon
(Even
if you’re just in a dream, I wish that I could touch you)
Uyeoncheoreom geudael
majuchineun sungani naegen jeonbuyeotjiman
(I
could only run accidentally into you in a short moment, but that time is
everything for me)
Meomchulsuga eobseotseo
geuttaen doraseoya haneun geotdo ara
(I
just couldn’t stop it, I know that I have to turn back at that time then)
Gidarime iksukhaejin
nae moseubdwien eonjena nunmuri heureugo itseo
(I
used to be waiting for you, as the tears keep falling behind my back)
Oneulbam naebangen
patiga yeollyeotji geudaereul wihae junbihan kkoteun eoneusae sideulgo
(There’s
a party in my room tonight, with the flower I have prepared for you has already
wilted)
Imi nan neupe ppajin
geoya chueok jocha obseotji
(I
already fell into a swamp, there’s not even a memory to be shared)
Suljaneul biumyeo
himeobsi utseotji tto dasi sangsangsokeuro geudael chodaehaneun geoya
(Emptying
the glasses, I smile without any strength as I’m inviting you into my
imagination again)
Jigeum kkaji do amudo
moreutji
(Even
until now, nobody knows)”
Tags:
immortal songs 2
jo kwan woo
kpop
lee se jun
music
my first story
swamp
television program
yurisangja
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