님은 먼 곳에. My love far away

님은 먼곳에 ( 김추자, 조관우 ) - 통기타여신 강지민–노래가★좋아 Kang Jimin*

So this is the Vietnam War era South Korean pop hit performed originally by singer Kim Chu-ja. The lyrics are credited to Yoo Ho ( 유호 ) with melody credited to Shin Joong-hyun ( 신중현 ). Singer Cho Gwan-oo performed the song in more recent times. This later performance took place on a talent competition program won by guitar player/singer Kang Jimin. Kang performs many US popular songs as well, mostly oldies. I saw another youtube of this same performance by Kang Jimin dated 2017. That's her father celebrating with her onstage.*

*link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7odwz5vodCY

Kim Chu-ja's original performance is 1969, on an album with a patriotic theme. The album fits in with the militaristic culture back then during the Park Chung-hee dictatorship. I like her version, but her recording has a night club or cabaret sound to it, which i guess was popular back then but sounds dated now. Kang Jimin's more contemporary style is mellow and pleasant sounding I think. I had a copy of Kim Chu-ja's album years ago, and would play it driving cross country. I knew the words by heart. When I tried to translate it to English, I had some trouble because the subject in some the lyric phrases isn't expressed clearly, often the case in Korean. That also gives the listener the option of subjective interpretation. So I assumed the context to be the theme of the soldier who left home to fight a war and didn't come back. Other youtube video presentations of the song confirmed this to be the case. There is also more upbeat patriotic song on Kim's same album, called (Sunburned) Sergeant Kim back from Vietnam (월남에서 돌아온 새까만 김상사 ) which makes the context clear.


님은 먼 곳에 My love far away

사랑한다고 말할 걸 그랬지 I would have said I love you,
님이 아니면 못 산다 할 것을 if you aren't my love I couldn't live
사랑한다고 말할 걸 그랬지 I would have said I love you,
망설이다가 가 버린 사람 I hesitated and now that person is gone away
마음 주고 눈물 주고 Gave his heart, gave his tears
꿈도 주고 멀어져 갔네 dreams, too, he gave, now gone far away
님은 먼 곳에 My love to a far away place
영원히 먼 곳에 To a forever far away place
망설이다가 While I hesitated.
님은 먼 곳에 My love went to a far place