About 400 years ago,
there was a very despotic emperor
in Korea.
He was hanging people right
and left who opposed him.
And the legend is that 10 ,000 people were
hung by him
from the top of a tall pine tree
on the top of the hill of Arirang,
which is outside Seoul.
One of the men condemned to death,
as he marched his last mile,
he sang a song saying
how much he loved his country,
how beautiful it was,
how he hated to say goodbye to it.
It was picked up by the other prisoners,
and it became a tradition in Korea
that any man ever condemned to death
had a right to sing this song
before his execution.
Well, like many a folk song,
it spread through the country,
it had verses added to it,
and different variations on the melody.
About 40 years ago,
when Japan took over Korea
and tried to make a colony out of it,
they abolished the singing,
made it a prison offense
to sing the national anthem of Korea
or any patriotic songs.
And Arirang be came kind
of an unofficial anthem.
It was sung by the guerrillas
who fought in the hills
against the fascists.
And today it's sung in both
North and South Korea,
a symbol of unity
in an otherwise divided country.
Arirang, Arirang, Arirang,
crossing the hills of Arirang -o.
In my homeland of three thousand leagues,
peace and abundance will flower at last.
Arirang, Arirang, Arirang,
crossing the hills of Arirang.
Oh, my countrymen,
why are your voices hushed,
only the waterfalls and
fountains sing free?
A -dee -da -da -dee -da -da -da -dee -oh
Crossing the hills of A
-dee -da -no
Numberless are the stars
blinking in the night
Endless the sorrow we
know in our life.
Arirang, Arirang, Ari rang.
Crossing the hills of Arirang.