Grannies' Generation "First Date" & Lyrics

Are you ready to witness the first original song from Grannies' Generation? The whole KWOW crew had too much fun making this one!

Lyrics to "First Date"

GRANNY KIM:
할멈시대... Grannies Generation...
I’m the band leader Granny Kim
She’s Bongja. My best friend.
And the rest of our crew is late.
We operate on Korea time.

TAEKWON DO:
Girl, we just went on our first date today
And I can’t stop thinking about you.
You’re my superstar.
And I’m your biggest fan.

PROFESSOR OH:
To him her hair is like harp strings
And the wind strums gently

TAEKWON DO:
Lips like sugar
Though I’ve only kissed her in my dreams

BILLY JIN:
OMO! Jinjja oppa? Rawr~
What if i have kimchi stuck in my teeth?

TAEKWON DO:
Bebe, I love kimchi.
I’m a hangook nom.

BILLY JIN:
What if I wore thick horizontal lines and it made me look fat?

TAEKWON DO:
Hey bros, never tell a girl she’s fat.

PROFESSOR OH:
다다다 좋아~

TAEKWON DO:
Picking you up on our very next date.

BILLY JIN:
How do I look?
I should’ve worn pink.

TAEKWON DO:
She looks so beautiful
I hope I’m not staring too hard
Don’t wanna look like a creep

BONGJA:
Ladies don’t be shy
You ain’t no robot
Show your bristles a little love

GRANNY KIM:
Yeayaaaa~
Let your national parks rainnnnnnnn!!!
Just like my cash!

TAEKWON DO:
Even if you fart, it’ll sound like aegyo to me.

PROFESSOR OH:
Huhhhh ooohhhhh~

BILLY JIN:
Come here closer,
I’ve got a gift for you.

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Korea's Traditional Folk Music (KWOW #37)

As we already learned in KWOW episode 37 (see below), pansori (판소리) is a genre of Korea's traditional music performed by one singer and one drummer. Think of pansori as "Korean opera."

The most famous pansori story is “Chunhyangga (춘향가).” Set in the city of Namwon, Chunhyangga is the legendary love story of Chunhyang and Mongryong (몽령). To make a long story short, Chunhyang was a gisaeng (기생), a female entertainer for the aristocrats and royals. Mongryong was a district magistrate. Despite their class difference, they fell in love and married illegally. While Mongryong was in Seoul, another man forced Chunhyang to be his concubine. She refused and was given the death sentence. Mongryong returned to Namwon just in time to save her.

Here’s some Chunhyangga for you to enjoy:

Another traditional Korean music genre is pungmul (풍물). Pungmul was once practiced by farmers for rural holidays and for shamanistic purposes. Nowadays pungmul are used as art and for political protest. Pungmul is commonly held outdoors and contains many performers, each dedicated to sing, dance, play drums, and more. The performers wear colorful costumes accompanied by hats with twirling ribbons.

Watch this pungmul performance:

Samul nori (사물놀이) is similar to pungmul as it uses the same traditional instruments: ggwaenggwari (꽹과리), janggu (장구), jing (징), and buk (북). The four instruments symbolize a weather condition. Janggu stands for rain. Ggwaenggwari symbolizes thunder. Buk represents clouds. Jing symbolizes the sounds of the wind. Compared to pungmul, samul nori songs tend to be faster and are performed while sitting down. Farmers would perform samul nori in hopes of good harvest.

Check out the performance by Kim Duk Soo, the most famous samul nori player:

Other Korean traditional music genres include sanjo (산조), shinawee (시나위), and jungak (정악).

Hope you enjoyed the music! :)

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