[20] Our eternal music youth ‘little giant’ singer Kim Soo-chul
Kkanbu. It is a slang and colloquialism that means ‘the same side’, and further, ‘a person who can share everything no matter what’. No matter how much you have in life, if you don’t have a lifelong friend with whom you can share healthy relationships, can you say you’ve lived well? It is said that good interpersonal relationships have a positive effect on health. We introduce the ‘value of togetherness’ that blooms among Kkanbu.
When I think back to my school days, there is a friend that comes to mind. A friend who was small and sat at the front of the classroom without any awkwardness, a friend who always accepted the teasing of her larger friends with a smile, a friend who, instead of pushing away the kids who ran to steal the egg roll and sausage side dish, would open the side dish lid and offer it to them to eat.
He’s not the type to try hard to attract other people’s attention, but if you get to know him, he’s a friend who has a lot of talents that other people can’t do or can’t do, and he’s a friend who doesn’t show it but always quietly takes the lead. A friend who has a warm heart and makes you feel happy just by looking at him.
Kim Soo-chul (67), the ‘little giant’ of the Korean music industry, whom we met at a cafe in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 12th, is exactly that kind of person. Most of those who knew him during his school days likely believed that he would leave a big mark as a ‘little giant’ regardless of what field he would later pursue.
He became known for “A Flower That Has Not Bloomed” and became the king of singers in 1984 with successive hits such as “Young You” and “I’m Gonna Do It Too”. He then hit the jackpot with “Get Your Mind Off” and rose to the ranks of national singers. Even now, “Young You” and “Get Your Mind Off” are national songs that are sung as if they were the designated songs at university festivals and bring the singers and the audience together.
Some of Kim Soo-chul’s songs about friendship do not focus entirely on human relationships and criticize friendship and love that are ‘only in words’. This reflects his temperament. He is inherently wary of and dislikes loneliness. He cherishes warm relationships and the friendship that springs from those relationships.
However, I have experienced many situations where the relationship was cut off due to material things and money. I felt so sorry about that process that I sent a message to the world through song.
In the 1980s, which was still considered a time of great affection compared to today, he was already worried about a society where friendship was disappearing and communication between friends and people was blocked. To that extent, he was a genius ahead of his time.
![‘Where Are You’… Kim Soo-chul, who was a ‘young man’, finds a friend again[유재영의 전국깐부자랑]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/08/17/126561219.1.jpg "‘Where Are You’… Kim Soo-chul, who was a ‘young man’, finds a friend again[유재영의 전국깐부자랑]")
When I told him, “I want to hear your story about the Kkanbu,” he readily agreed to meet me. However, he came to the meeting place alone. He was the second person to come after actor Jung Joon-ho.
At first, I was skeptical about him saying he would be the only one to show off his ‘Kkanbu’ skills. Jeong Jun-ho, who boasts of his impressive network of connections, had too many close friends to take care of to introduce a specific friend as a Kkanbu. However, Kim Soo-chul was not that type of person.
But as I listened to his story, I understood. He said that he wanted to call back the friends he had left behind through music. He also said that he wanted to send a message of awakening to those who had put friendship on the back burner. Along with the story of his album, which was released in commemoration of his 45th debut anniversary and after 33 years, his eloquence perked up my ears.
● I have been searching for my departed friends for over 40 years.
Where are you (2024)
Even though I was poor, my dream was always by my side
Even though I was tired and collapsed
I got up again and ran to you
That’s how we lived when we were young
We hugged and comforted each other
I was happy without any envy in the world
Then one day we became strangers
I came to know suffering
Take our traces out of memory
I searched for you but
All I see before me are endless tears
Where are you
How long has it been since you left? Have you forgotten?
I want to go back to those days
You are from me and I am from you
We were born from each other
Now, I’m just letting the years pass by without me knowing
where are you
where are you
– The title song is ‘Where Are You’. When I look at this song or the lyrics from the past, I really think that it transcends time. It seems like people are groaning inside, but instead, they are letting out their frustrations through the song. It’s something I also wanted to say to my friends who have grown distant. How can I write lyrics like these?
“I seem to be mentally immature. Haha. Because I was immature, friendships were everything to me since I was young. I thought it was really important. If not, I wouldn’t have been able to live like family with Song Seung-hwan, Yang Hee-eun, and Lee Sung-mi, who I met when I was 20. I wrote the lyrics while thinking, ‘Where have all the friends I used to worry about in the world gone?’”
– I sang it calmly, but it sounded sorrowful… .
“As you grow up, you learn about society, money, and the paths you take change… Yes, it’s good. It’s a situation that everyone goes through. Still, I thought one or two people would maintain their friendship, but where did that go? Now, I’m still living while maintaining my friendships, but the people around me who don’t seem to live that way seem lonely. People say it’s good to show off money, but there’s a limit. I’m asking myself, ‘If friendship isn’t your top priority, what’s really important to you?’”
– You said, ‘We have come to know the pain of being strangers to each other’… .
“Your life will change depending on whether you live with friendship as the foundation of your life or not. Being strangers means that you have ‘differences.’ When you meet, you talk about different things, exchange financial benefits, and don’t meet if you don’t need to. That’s why it’s painful.
There are friends who don’t lose their friendship even when they earn a lot of money. Friends who consider friendship as the foundation of their lives never change. For them, friendship is understanding. They are humble and careful. They don’t brag about their money in front of people who don’t have it. ‘I want to find one or two friends who knew this foundation. I talked to you before, but you guys still haven’t come back?’ Is this the pain that maximizes that regret?”
His songs and lyrics are consistent, past and present. Even though a lot of time has passed, there is an emotional connection. This is because they contain the value of friendship that transcends the flow of time.
The song “Thinking of a Person” from his third solo album released in 1985 comes to mind. It is not a widely known song. Kim Soo-chul himself says it is his favorite song. The person he wants to see in “Where Are You” is probably “Thinking of a Person” that he found in a song 39 years ago.
Then, can we say that this song has a ‘season 2’ character? If in “Thinking of You” the friend was seen as someone who will return someday, then in “Where Are You” the friend seems like someone who needs to put in more effort and urge himself to return.
The Person Who Comes to Mind (1985)
A person who comes to mind, a quiet person
When will the person I miss be back?
What do you want to do
The person who spoke softly
Walking along a quiet path, the mountains and the sea
The person I wanted to live with
The person who left before the tears dried
The person who left before the tears dried
– This is my own interpretation. What does it sound like?
“Wow, this is my first time doing this kind of analysis. But all the songs I composed and liked have been ruined. Haha. Anyway, I agree. I wrote “Thinking of a Person” when I was leaving the house of composer Jo Dong-jin (who passed away in 2017) at dawn. The people I cherish are all in the same context. I cut off a person’s branch in each song.”
I had already given a warning to the ‘person who left’ mentioned in ‘The Person I Think of’ and ‘Where Are You’ long ago because I was angry. I told them that if they look for money, they will become lonely and then they will not see people and love.
Wake Up (1989)
I don’t know, I really don’t know
What on earth are you thinking?
Even if you look around here and there
There is nothing
Why are you trying to find it?
Why are you leaving?
The more this happens, the sadder I become.
Because I have to live alone
You said that and then you did it again
What if that happens again?
The more you do that, the more people
People don’t see love
Hey honey, come to your senses
This guy
● My friendship DNA that erases greed for success, money, and power
– You said it again in a song. Didn’t you want to sing a different song this time?
“I don’t worry about what kind of song I should sing. It’s in my DNA to sing songs of friendship and not chase money. If someone offers me money, I can sing comfortably. But if it doesn’t seem like my calling, I refuse.
I wanted to say that there are things that money can’t buy, and things that can’t be bought. Friendship is when you’re by my side whether you’re doing well or not, and I wanted to say, ‘Where did that go?’ If a friend is doing well but not by my side, it’s not friendship. If someone asks me, ‘Which comes first? Success, money, or power?’, I will choose friendship no matter what.”
– I guess music and friendship go together. In Kim Soo-chul…
“Music is my eternal friend. The only thing I know how to do is music. It was hard because my parents were against it, saying, ‘You’re a nerd,’ but I continued to do music because my friends liked it.”
He has worked on many hit songs, drama OSTs, movie soundtracks, TV commercial songs, animation theme songs, and music for numerous international events. There was even a great ‘person’ who said he would buy the rights to all of Kim Soo-chul’s songs for 10 billion won. With such assets, he has dozens of albums piled up in storage. He also has 1,000 unreleased songs.
However, Kim Soo-chul did not think about making a lot of money. He shouted to the world to truly understand friendship, but in a worldly sense, he did not gain anything substantial. Nevertheless, he boasted that although he did not know of any buildings that made money, there were many music buildings.
-Why do you think that happened?
“I’ve always liked composing and playing music more than singing. It’s the same now. I’ve never thought of myself as a good singer. I just thought I was good at writing songs and creating a ‘feeling’.
But one day, the song became a hit and I made money, so I had to dream again. I used the money I earned to pursue my dream. That’s why I didn’t buy a building or anything. Composing was fun and it was my dream. So when I made money, I studied music and studied again.
But since there isn’t just one genre of music, when you do film music, you have to study classical music and Korean traditional music. Then, I received an offer to do music for national events.”
He defines his life as a practice of friendship, saying that he never even thought about financial gain, whether it would make him money or not.
Kim Soo-chul said, “People in our profession are people who can only work if called. Even if I had received work on dramas and movies, if I had made a mistake in one, rumors would have spread that ‘Kim Soo-chul, you’ve gotten old and lost your cool.'” He added, “I did my best on the work, and luckily, other jobs followed.”
– So, is this song a proper example of friendship?
“I used to do music that didn’t make money, but this time I did music that does. Haha. I did a proper pop song. It’s been 33 years. It was more fun than I expected because I played the guitar and sang for the first time in a long time. If the 100-member orchestra from the East and the West didn’t go well last year, I might have done heavy classical music again. But when it went well and the public was interested, I thought I should try doing a pop song right away.
I had fun writing the song, but I don’t know what’s next. I have to leave it up to the public. Even now, when I get work, I say ‘thank you’ and do it. I don’t have any plans, and when I get work, I just do my best. The response is good. They say they can hear the lyrics (laughs). But for someone like me who’s been doing music that doesn’t make money, if it works out, it’s good, and if it doesn’t, I think ‘I can’t do this.’ If it doesn’t work out, I quickly move on to something else. Haha.”
● The attempt by the “Young You” to become the “Young You” that they seek again
– Compared to the time when you were actively releasing songs, there are many conflicts due to generational differences and social conflicts due to the gap between the rich and the poor. In a society that has become more tense, can songs serve as a window to inform people of the seriousness of the lack of communication like they used to?
“The older generations were used to working with dirt, living in the concrete-asphalt era, and then suddenly entering the digital era. They were people who had a hard time with the rapid changes. But the current generation was born while breathing digitally. The equipment and options are different. Naturally, there is conflict.
But people are lonely anyway. When I’m lonely, the first thing that comes to mind is my friends. I tried to convey the message of the tree in this album. It’s true love that is given unconditionally.”
– The lyrics from “Young You” that say “Let’s go over the hill together, let’s run” overlap… .
“Let’s do our best together. It’s too selfish and weird to say, ‘If you go beyond what you calculated, you’ll get some benefits.’ Rather than that, it’s better to say that if you do your best and go beyond your limits, you’ll have hope and dreams. But if you go beyond, there’s nothing? Even so, if you did your best, you’ll feel rewarded. And you’ll have the strength to go beyond your limits later.
I believe that a person’s life should be evaluated by the process, not the results. If we keep judging the results, we will have no choice but to calculate each other. Let’s go through the process together, waiting and understanding, like a tree.”
He trained his body and mind to continue making music, to meet old friends and to communicate with new ones. He was once a heavy smoker and a heavy drinker, but he quit at age 40.
– I heard that you used to be a heavy smoker but quit drinking. Are you still abstaining from drinking and smoking?
“I didn’t just drink a few bottles of alcohol. I smoked three packs of cigarettes in the morning, noon, and evening. Of course, I only got about three to four hours of sleep. I sang during the day, composed music in the afternoon, and went to learn traditional Korean music at night, drinking and smoking, so you can imagine how physically exhausted I must have been.
But you need to have strength to play the guitar, and you need to have the strength to sit down and endure to compose music. I quit drinking and smoking to the death. I quit smoking first, and then I quit drinking a month later. I did it by pinching my thighs and twisting my arms. So when people around me saw that it wasn’t fun, they didn’t contact me. When I quit smoking and drinking completely, 80% of my friends disappeared.
There are only a few people left, including Yang Hee-eun, Song Seung-hwan, and the recording staff. So there’s nothing to do, right? So I work harder on music. And since I don’t drink, I don’t make mistakes. Since I quit drinking, I only think about my mistakes. When I drink, I would say things I normally hold back and become aggressive, and I would try to teach my juniors. Now, I just listen and don’t criticize. Instead, I encourage them. I’ve also become more understanding of people’s positions.
These days, my juniors still envy my performance. Then I smile and tell them, ‘You can do it. If you want to do it, you have to have the energy to play.’ I’m glad that I have the freedom to say that at this age.”
– I have been away from my fans for a while due to my work. Now, as a national song and a national ‘little giant’, I am back to find the friends I couldn’t find before, so I hope that my new song will do well and that many people will sing it. It seems like the new friendship song has been released and preparations are complete. I think it would be a huge hit if I went to every college festival and sang “Young You”…
“I have to call you. I have never been invited.”
Everyone is missing his value. He literally goes when you call him. It’s strange that no school has sung the original singer of the best cheer song since the 1980s.
-Aren’t you upset?
“They say it’s a national anthem, but “Apartment” is a song that kids can’t sing. Haha. Kim Soo-hee’s “Namhaeng Train” is also about love but can’t meet… It’s a song that you have to be careful about in front of kids. Haha. On the other hand, “Young You” and “Get Your Mind Together” are songs that cross and embrace all generations. They’re songs that unite everyone from children to adults, and that tell us to hold hands and go through difficult times. There will be no twists in Kim Soo-chul’s friendship songs. So there’s no reason for me to become distant from Kim Soo-chul.”
In many ways, the innocent and still childlike young musician ‘Kim Soo-chul’ is still enough to become a ‘young you’ who is respected by everyone. He has already told ‘young you’ to ‘come to your senses’, so he will make music that motivates young people without being arrogant, and if so, it seems like his friends will increase rather than decrease in the future.
Reporter Yoo Jae-young [email protected]
2024-08-17 15:42:58