Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Korean Music Time! #14 Kim Soo-Cheol - Youthful You (김수철 - 젊은 그대)

Here's my obligatory post to this blog for the month of February! I thought I'd put up my translation of a song that my mother heard and actually told me she liked! I mean hey, if someone liked one of my Korean songs besides me it must be good, right?

I know that English doesn't often put an adjective before a pronoun, as is common in Korean, but for this song I thought it sounded good enough. Most people translate the title as "You Are Young," but a more precise translation is "You Who Are Young." I thought I'd stylize it a bit and make it "Youthful You." It has kind of a poetic sound, I think. If you don't like it, well...it's my translation and I'll do what I want!*

* Out of curiosity, just before I posted this, I did a Google search on the phrase "Youthful You," and once I got past all the plastic surgery and cosmetics sites, I found that others have translated the title of this song as "Youthful You" as well. So I'm not alone in envisioning this song in English that way!

Without further ado, here's the man himself, Kim Soo-Cheol!







젊은 그대
Youthful You

거칠은 벌판으로 달려가자
Let’s run toward the rugged plain
젊음의 태양을 마시자
Let’s drink up the sun of youth
보석보다 찬란한 무지개가 살고있는 언덕 넘어
Go over that hill where a rainbow brighter than jewels is living
내일의 희망이 우리를 부른다
Tomorrow’s hopes are calling us

젊은 그대 깨어오라
Youthful you, awake from your sleep
젊은 그대 깨어오라
Youthful you, awake from your sleep
~~ ~~ 사랑스런 젊은 그대
Ah…ah…lovely, youthful you
~~ ~~ 태양같은 젊은 그대
Ah…ah…sunny, youthful you
젊은 그대 젊은 그대
Youthful you, youthful you

미지의 신세계로 달려가자
Let’s run to the unknown new world
젊음의 희망을 마시자
Let’s drink up the hopes of youth
영원의 불꽃같은 숨결이 살고있는 아름다운 강산의 꿈들이
The dreams of the beautiful landscape, where breath like an eternal spark is living
우리를 부른다
Are calling us

젊은 그대 깨어오라
Youthful you, awake from your sleep
젊은 그대 깨어오라
Youthful you, awake from your sleep
~~ ~~ 사랑스런 젊은 그대
Ah…ah…lovely, youthful you
~~ ~~ 태양같은 젊은 그대
Ah…ah…sunny, youthful you
젊은 그대 젊은 그대
Youthful you, youthful you