Han Dol Erased Self-Penned Lyrics and Recorded It Again

Erasing lyrics is something only the person who wrote them can do.

Han Dol has put out 'Holo Arirang' again today. Three minutes 58, listed as 'Holo Arirang - Instrumental'. The credits are two lines: music by Han Dol, arrangement by Kim Su-ho. There is no lyric credit. The lyric field is empty too.

When it came out as the title track of 'Tarae Collection 2' on 20 October 1989, the words were Han Dol's. The one who put them there has taken them away.

Only One of This Year's Six

Han Dol has released six singles this year.

Release	Song	Lyrics
4 March	Seomjin River	Han Dol
2 April	Mayfly	Han Dol
6 May	1991, That Day We	Han Dol
4 June	Ember	Han Dol
10 July	Arirang Flower	Han Dol
15 September	Holo Arirang	—

I opened the credits on all five of the earlier ones. Words and music are both Han Dol's, and several list the players as well. The one out today is the only one of the six with no lyric credit.

The rhythm broke too. From 4 March to 10 July it was one a month; after 10 July comes 15 September. Nothing came out in August.

But the Lyrics Are in the Album Notes

This is the strangest and best part of the record.

The words taken out of the recording, Han Dol wrote back into the album notes as prose.

One day there will be a great festival on Dokdo / a boat from Baekdu and a boat from Halla will drop anchor / and greet the rising morning sun……

The original third verse runs: "Set out by boat from Baekdu, from the Tumen / from Halla, from Jeju, a boat goes / on the way drop anchor at a lone island / and let us greet the rising morning sun."

It came out of the song but stayed in writing. The decision was not to sing it, not to delete it. Saying it beside the music rather than in it — that's the kind of distance available to someone who has sung it for nearly thirty-seven years.

Everything Arrives At Once, Five Seconds In

There's almost no silence at the front. From 0:00 a low tone is already ringing at −63.3dB, and it swells to −33dB across five seconds. One low, slow sustained note growing.

Then 0:05.15. Inside a single 50-millisecond frame the high-band share jumps from 0.4% to 15.7% and the centre of gravity climbs from 706Hz to 3,761Hz — more than fivefold. The level goes −24.8dB to −12.0dB, and two frames later to −6.9dB. That's 17.9dB inside a tenth of a second.

A five-second low-end approach, then the whole spectrum together in 0.1 seconds. The sharpest seam in the song.

Three Rises and Two Falls

What follows is one large arch.

The first peak runs 0:05 to 0:20. From 0:25 to 1:08 is the quietest stretch, touching −31.6dB at its lowest. It fills again from 1:10 to 2:08, falls a second time from 2:08 to 2:52, and rises for the last time from 2:55 — reaching −9.9dB at 3:54.5, the loudest point in the song.

Between the lowest and the highest there is about 22dB. For a current master that's an unusually wide window left open.

The stereo moves with it. At the second, quietest valley (2:15–2:20) it narrows to −9.7dB and the image folds to the centre; on the final rise it opens back out. Narrow when quiet, wide when loud — simple, and legible because it's simple.

The beat doesn't sit on a grid. It's around 70BPM, but the onset intervals spread from 0.3 to 0.9 seconds. Not cut to a click; played with push and pull.

The Ending Leaves Only the Low End

It isn't a fade-out. It rings at −13 to −16dB until 3:55, then falls away from 3:56.5 — and across those last two seconds the low-end share climbs from 50% to 76–81% while the mids drop from 24% to 9%. The highs die first and only the low ringing is left to go out.

It passes below −50dB at 3:58.50 and the file is 238.60 seconds long. Only 0.10 seconds of silence remain. Not even a pause for the resonance was left in.

When to Listen

Alone at night, in a quiet room. This recording has no words, and its loud-to-quiet range is 22dB, so if the room is noisy the valleys disappear entirely. What's left then is only the peaks — and half of this record lives in the valleys.

The words Han Dol wrote in 1989 and removed this time are printed in the album notes. Listen first, read second. That's the right order.

Holo Arirang.