This was a case of musical serendipity. I first heard this song in a small restaurant in Sangju, South Korea in 1998. I sat at a table hypnotized by the vocal harmonies, the guitar, organ, the haunting mood, kind of similar to the Moody Blues. I persuaded my Korean friend to ask the restaurant staff what the song was. I was so excited by it that they ended up just giving me the cassette. It was a budget compilation of Korean pop tunes from the 70s. Although I now possessed the song, no one told me anything about it, like its title or the group that performed it. Oh well, I was just glad to have it. The mystery remained unsolved for many more years.
I eventually figured it out via the information superhighway, thanks mostly to a great blog about Korean Psych and Acid Folk music. The group, He 6, released a couple of decent albums, but this song will always have a magical hold on me.
I still have the cassette in a box in my basement, the song that came on after this one has some guy whistling. Alas, there were no other songs on the cassette that had any effect on me.
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