little white boat

 

a song I heard when I was a child. I am singing it in Mandarin and playing a baritone ukulele in the clawhammer style. The illustrations are made with gouache paints on an accordion booklet which I have made.

So this song was originally in Korean. The songwriter is Yinke Rong. He wrote it in 1924. It was originally titled Half Moon. In September 1924, Rong's brother-in-law passed away. His sister often looked at the half moon that appeared in the sky during the day, missing her husband. Rong wrote this song to show his sister's grief and loneliness. On the other hand, Korea was under Japanese occupation, and this song was also to show the grief due to the loss of his motherland. 

Here are the lyrics I translated into English: 

In the blue sky in the milk way 

There is a little white boat 

On the boat there is an Osmanthus tree 

And a white rabbit playing 

No oars to be seen 

Nor a sail in sight 

The boat drifts along Into the Western sky 

Crossing over the milky way 

Drifting towards the ocean of clouds 

Passing through those iridescent clouds 

Where to go from here? 

In a place far away Shines a golden light 

The morning star is a lighthouse 

Shines so bright.