CD12-14: Boseong, Song about Woman's Harsh Married Life
(Boseong, Jeonnam Province/ Ju, Won-nim(80yrs)/ 1990)
◆ The singer used to sing this song with her friends when she was young while weaving ramie cloth at other people's houses. Since a pheasant is the subject, it is also called 'A Pheasant's Song'. It's about a woman leading a difficult married life. Children used to learn this kind of songs by listening to the adults sitting around in a room weaving ramie cloth. When girls around ten years old went around houses to weave ramie cloth, they spent so much time giggling that they really didn't get much work done.
(Content of Song)
“Catch that pheasant over there
Give the claws that dig up soil to my husband's older brother's wife(meaning that his wife was mean to her)
Give the thigh(the most tasteless part) to my father-in-law
Give the wing to my brother-in-law
Give the beak to my sister-in-law(meaning her sister-in-law talks too much)
Give my husband the neck with the good voice
And I will eat the rotten part inside the body and let my body rot”
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