Ariran Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Verse 1]
About [D]400 years ago,
there was a [D]very despotic [G]emperor
in Korea.
[D]He was hanging people right
and left who opposed him.
And the legend is that 10 ,000 people were
hung by him
[A]from the top of a [D]tall pine tree
on the top of the hill of Arirang,
which is outside Seoul.
One of the men condemned to death,
as he marched his last mile,
he sang a song saying
how much he loved [D]his country,
how beautiful it was,
how he hated to say goodbye to it.
It was picked up by the [C]other prisoners,
[D]and it became a tradition in Korea
that [D]any man ever condemned to death
had a right to sing this [A]song
before [D]his execution.
Well, like many a folk song,
it spread through the country,
it had verses added to it,
[A]and different variations on the melody.
[D]About 40 years ago,
when Japan took over Korea
and tried to make a colony out [D]of it,
they abolished [D]the singing,
made it a prison offense
to [Bm]sing the national [D]anthem of Korea
or any patriotic songs.
And Arirang [D]be came kind
of an unofficial anthem.
It was sung by the guerrillas
who fought in the hills
[G]against the [D]fascists.
And today it's sung in both
[D]North and South [Ab]Korea,
a symbol of unity
in an [Db]otherwise divided country.[D]
[Ab]Arir[D]ang, Arirang, Arirang,
[Db]cross[D]ing the hills of Ari[Db]rang [D]-o.
In my homeland of three thousand [A]leagues,
[D]peace and abundance will flower at last.
Arir[Db]ang, [D]Arirang, [Db]Arir[D]ang,
crossing the hills [Db]of Arir[D]ang.
Oh, my countrymen,
[Db]why are your voices [D]hushed,
only the water[Bb]fall[Db]s and
fountains sing [D]free?
A -dee -da [D]-da -dee -da -da -da -dee [A]-oh
[D]Crossing the hills of A[C#]
[D]-dee -da [A]-no
[D]Numberless are the stars
blinking in the [A]night
[D]Endless the sorrow we
know in [C#]our [D]life.[Ab]
Arir[Db]ang, Arir[D]ang, [Db]Ari ra[D]ng.
Cross[Db]ing t[D]he hills of [Db]Arirang.