Theme Song of a Film Inspired by Fallen Leaves
(The feature film "Don't Wait for Us" deals with the heroic struggle of the airmen of the Korean People's Army who fought to the last drop of their blood to defend the country during the Fatherland Liberation War in the 1950s to repulse the armed invasion of the US imperialists.)
At that time, Jon Tong U was given a task to create the theme song of the film. Fascinated by the mental world of the heroes, he took up a pen but writhed in agony for a while as he couldn't know how to make the words of the song.
One day, he came out into a small garden in the compound of the Korean Scriptwriting Company after crossing out all the drafts of the lyrics as he didn't like them.
"How can I write the lyrics showing the noble mentality of the heroes of the film in a depictive way?"
He was lost in thought, walking in the garden for a long while.
It was late autumn. Leaves were blown off by the wind and they fell even on his head.
He sat on a stone bench and casually looked at the lower part of a tree.
Fallen leaves that lived out their natural lives were fluttering in the wind and falling here and there. But some leaves were falling around the lower part of the tree.
The writer felt as if they fell down to cover up the root of the tree.
Root and fallen leaves, fallen leaves and root...
All of a sudden, he thought what if those fallen leaves became the earth.
"Those dried leaves also fall around the lower part of the tree to cover up its root and become manure. That's it!"
"If you, the fatherland, were a standing tree,
Would be leaf of the tree, this body of mine."
The poetic words have already come across his mind.
It was a poetic discovery which could show most clearly and emotionally the theme of the film telling for what the soldiers of the Korean People's Army devoted all their youth and lives to the battles during the past Fatherland Liberation War.
If you, the fatherland, were a standing tree,
Would be leaf of the tree, this body of mine.
Even though I should fall amid chilly wind,
I will cover your root with my body.
Ah, my fatherland,
I will cover your root with my body.
The first stanza of the song came out from the falling leaves.
When he got the idea of the lyrics, it was a piece of cake to write the second and third stanzas.
This was how the masterpiece "I Will Remain Your Son Forever" was created.
Like this, Jon Tong U would write meditative and philosophically profound words even through careful observation of natural phenomena.