Yu Huiyeol's Sketchbook (You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook / 유희열의 스케치북)

Hello, it's nice to meet you. Welcome to Sketchbook, everyone.

I'm Yu Hui Yeol.

Today I gave an opening on a round stage, which is quite new.

It's really nice to meet you here.

Okay.

It's already the last week of November.

We promised that on the last week of every month,

we'd prepare something special for you to enjoy.

This is the second edition of "Monthly Sketchbook",

the November special edition.

All right.

Do you know who won the Nobel Prize in literature this year?

Bob Dylan. - Bob Dylan.

That's right. I knew some of you would show off.

Anyway, you are right.

For the first time in history, a pop artist won a Nobel Prize.

It was Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter and pioneer of American folk music.

So this week on "Monthly Sketchbook",

we have invited the troubadours of Korea to...

open our ears...

on Yu Hui Yeol's Sketchbook's very own poem recital.

You're in for a time of our lives.

Being the classy music show that we are,

we will bring you a night of beautiful music and poems.

So let me introduce you...

to our first guest of today's episode.

I heard that many have been finding comfort with this song.

So before we call him out,

I'll recite a snippet of the lyrics.

"You who walk with me on this path".

"You who chose me out of all people".

"When the wind blows, look up and ahead".

"Our path is as beautiful as the length we covered".

"Even if we lose our grip on each other",

"remember to never be flustered".

"The top wouldn't be of a large space anyway".

"Eventually, we'll meet and yell out loudly".

"I love you till the end of the world".

The ancestor of musicians.

Please welcome Yoon Jong Shin.

Hello. It's nice to meet you all.

Today we invited you to our poem recital.

Can you tell us about the song you just sang?

It's called "Uphill". - I see.

It was originally sung by Jung In as part of...

"Monthly Project Yoon Jong Shin".

Whenever we face a tough incident,

we comfort ourselves or others...

with vague words of encouragement. - That's right.

We do with vague words of encouragement.

However, for the meantime, there is a higher chance of failure.

Of course.

That's why I wanted to tell people that it's going to be hard.

It's nice to let them know that.

For the meantime, you'll be depressed.

What you're facing is a long uphill battle.

So let's hold on tight and get through this.

That's what I'm trying to say in this song.

Our country is in a turmoil.

For the meantime, we'll be facing dark and sad times.

Anyway, that's the basic notion behind the song.

Like he said, Korea is facing an uphill battle.

One line I especially love from your song is this.

"The top wouldn't be of large space anyway",

"so we're bound to meet". - That's right.

If you're lost in the mountain, you should head to the top.

You're right. - Since it's sharp at the top...

It's a small space. - Exactly.

You'll get even more lost if you only stay on the halfway.

That's why I'm saying in the song to meet at the top.

The top. - It's what I wanted to say...

and the song was released in 2012.

"Monthly Project Yoon Jong Shin" isn't aggressively promoted.

So later... - People discover the song later on.

I'm actually here to complain about that.

Why?

About what? - The title of today's episode.

Yes, "Monthly Sketchbook".

I'm not claiming anything...

since there are magazine names of the same format...

such as "Monthly Fishing".

Still, I was first to use it in the music industry.

But... - Before, there was "Monthly Pop".

This has been conceptualized since the beginning of our network.

No way.

It's true. - I can't help but think...

that you wanted the success of my project to rub off on it.

Do you know how hard I've worked on this?

It's not like anyone knows of it.

Some do.

Well... - Honestly though,

I was happy with the title.

I want many more to do monthly projects as well.

I'll be straight with you today.

As you all know, we're reciting songs as poems today.

We came up with the concept so that we can invite Jong Shin.

These days, due to his appearances on variety shows,

people know him as just a funny man.

He has been a musician since the former president Roh Tae Woo's days.

He's like a living fossil.

The Gulf War broke out after my debut.

Do you remember the Soviet Union? - Pardon?

Wasn't it the Soviet Union? - Russia was the Soviet Union.

It wasn't called Russia. That's right.

That's how long he's been in this business.

He has been a musician for 26 years.

You've written many songs over the years.

How many are there?

If I count everything I've worked on, there're over 400 songs.

It's probably between 450 and 460.

You've worked on 450 to 460 songs?

As you know, there are 365 days in a year.

If we assume it took 10 years, he wrote 1 song every 10 days.

You probably wrote them half-heartedly.

How is it possible to write so many songs?

My tactic is...

tweaking my old songs a little and re-releasing them as new songs.

I plagiarize my own songs.

Many of his songs became mega hits.

List them. It's a chance for you to show off.

Do we have a lot of time?

The list is quite long.

Please tell us. What's on the list?

I wrote "May You Please".

"May You Please". I hope you will meet someone nice

Please - It was released in 1994.

It was during the Kim Young Sam administration.

The former president. - This is like a history lesson.

It's a testament to Korean History. The next one is "Reincarnation".

I worked on it with Hui Yeol. - Right.

I also wrote "Send You Off" and " Patbingsu".

That's right. - Sung Si Kyung's "On the Street".

"You Touched My Heart". - Gosh, I love that song.

Right.

Si Kyung doesn't even visit me for New Year's Day, though.

New Year's Day? - He has to treat me better.

You also wrote songs for Lena Park, right?

"My Day". - "My Day".

I also wrote her song, "You Mean Everything to Me".

That's a lovely song. - Yes.

You wrote some for Lee Soo Young, too.

Oh, right. For her, I wrote "A Teardrop by Itself"...

"Goodbye as I Pass You by". - and "Goodbye as I Pass You by".

Things like that. - Aren't there so many great songs?

Utilizing his years of accumulated knowledge and skills,

he has been hosting concerts as a lyricist.

It's titled as "Lyricist Yoon Jong Shin's Concert". In other words...

everything is planned and performed in a lyricist's point of view.

It gets sold out every time.

It's because the venue is small.

These days, artists...

Thank you. These days, artists tend to pick...

moderately-sized venues to make them sell-out.

It really gets sold out every time because there're only 20 seats.

Oh, something just popped up behind.

"Teacher Yoon's Special Lecture on Writing Lyrics".

"Anyone can become a lyricist."

I like using expressions that people don't normally use.

You're really good at it.

I'll give you an example. When I was writing "Farewell Taxi"...

That's Kim Yeon Woo's song. - Yes.

I think using taxi as a subject matter was pretty new in the field.

Right, "Farewell Taxi". - You don't want to go home.

Right, you don't feel like going home.

You want to go somewhere but have no idea where to go.

Where should I go?

Sir

Has anyone else cried in your cab? - Has anyone else cried in your cab?

Seen from the taxi driver's point of view,

it's his unlucky day.

The customer is so annoying. - Exactly.

He doesn't even tell him his destination.

And he cries. - Yes. he cries, too.

He even asks the driver where he should go.

There's also this part. "Will the drive feel like..."

"Walking in the rain?" - "walking in the rain?"

He keeps on saying weird things.

There's one part that I really wasn't sure about.

It's raining.

There's a part. "The screeching wipers are throwing a fit".

It's because car wipers...

The screeching wipers are

"Throwing a fit". That's how the part goes, and it shows...

that it was a drizzling night. When it's drizzling,

the window doesn't get wiped smoothly.

There're dry spots.

The wipers move like this and make screeching sounds.

Yet, I'm so sad and devastated,

it sounds like the wipers are throwing a fit at me.

Actually...

I'll be honest with you.

In my lyric writing process, I'm close to being a pervert.

I tend to get ideas from such trivial things.

I must say, the lyrics about the wipers and Patbingsu are nothing.

There're lyrics that really show the perverted side of him,

so I brought them here.

This one has an element of self-abuse and...

Please recite this for our audience.

It's the epitome of Jong Shin's lyric writing style.

"My tongue is already stiff from the anaesthetics".