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The conservative lyrics in IU's 'Fall Morning' spark debate about remake songs in the modern era

AKP STAFF

Posted by Susan-Han Monday, October 2, 2017

IU's comeback pre-release "Fall Morning", from her 2nd remake album 'Flower Bookmark Two', has recently sparked a debate about the appropriateness of remake songs in the modern era among netizens.

IU's version of "Fall Morning" was originally sung by Yang Hee Eun in 1991 and composed and written by Lee Byung Woo. It still remains high on major domestic music charts 16 days after its release, currently ranking in 3rd or 4th behind Bolbbangan4's comeback album tracks. In the lyrics, a man recollects one of his favorite memories from his past of a casual and trivial fall morning. However, what posed as conservative in today's standards, and thus problematic for some, was the social roles of the mother, the father, and the son in the family.

The man singing, also the son of the family, is described as waking up in the morning and "searching for a cool glass of water lazily", "leisurely strumming the guitar", etc, while the father of the family "returns home from a morning walk with his hands full of unidentifiable, medicinal water". The mother is "busy preparing breakfast with 'dal-gak dal-gak' noises", "busy rump-rumpily washing and drying the laundry", and more.

How comfortable are netizens when listening to lyrics depicting a family structure with roles outdated for today's era? Some said, "If those lyrics were written in 2017, yeah it would be problematic, but since they weren't...", "I personally don't mind. To me, a father who goes for some light exercise on his day off and a mother cooking and cleaning at home isn't problematic", "This is just about an individual's experiences; it doesn't suggest that this family structure is right", "Back when this song was made, this was the standard family, so if you listen with that in mind, it should be no problem", and so on.

Others argued, "I think I can understand why some people might not feel comfortable listening to this", "It's a remake so there's nothing anyone can do, but these kinds of ideals should be changed nowadays", "It did make me think, 'How come only the woman works hard'", "These familial structures still exist today, and at least people are starting to realize what's problematic about it", and more.

What do you think about the 1991-familial structure in the lyrics to IU's "Fall Morning"?