Produced by SUGA, J.Pearl
Written by SUGA, J.Pearl, RM, j-hope
Note: This track was revealed under the name ‘DD ceremony’ during the 2018 FESTA. DD is typed ㅇㅇ in Korean keyboard, a shortened form of 응 (yes, okay). ㅇㅇ is often used in an informal chatting/texting and sometimes implies that the sender is indifferent, unimpressed, or unbothered. It’s similar to using ‘K’ instead of ‘okay.’ 땡 (ddaeng) also sounds like dang, which is well-fitting to the theme of this song, intended or not.
There are six meanings of 땡 (ddaeng) that are relevant in the context. I’ll put the corresponding number in squared brackets next to every 땡 (ddaeng) in the translated lyrics.
[1] Wrong
[2] The sound of ringing a bell; clang
[3] Done; finished
[4] Release sign in 얼음 땡 (ice ddaeng), a children’s game (tag). The “it” chases regular players. Players can freeze themselves by saying ‘얼음 (ice),’ and the “it” can’t tag the frozen player. Another regular player can tag the frozen player and say ‘땡 (ddaeng)’ at the same time to release the frozen one.
[5] Having two cards from the same month in Hwatu. More explanations follow below.
[6] 땡땡 is an exaggerated form of 팅팅, which is used to describe swollen eyes, face, or body.
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일팔 일삼 삼팔 땡
One-Eight One-Three Three-Eight ddaeng [5]
The terms come from a Korean card game called 섰다 (pronounced as seot-da; colloquially spelled 섯다) that uses Hwatu (explained briefly in the lyric translation of 농담 (Joke)). A basic set of Hwatu (the cards) is comprised of 48 cards, 4 for each month. There are five ‘bright’ cards (gwang); one each from January (1), March (3), August (8), November (11), and December (12). When playing 섰다, players use only 20 cards: 2 for each month from January to October, including gwang cards from January (1), March (3), and August (8). Any combination of two gwang cards, which is called gwang ddaeng, gives you a very high chance of winning. One-Eight and One-Three are excellent combinations, but there’s one particular combination of cards (animal cards from April and July) that can beat One-Eight and One-Three. Three-Eight is the invincible combination that can’t be defeated by any other combination of cards. Basically, this line says BTS is invincible and can’t be defeated by anyone.
U wrong me right 잘 봐 땡
U wrong me right Look carefully, ddaeng [1]
학교종 울려라 brr brr 땡
Ring the school bell brr brr ddaeng [2]
There’s a children’s song in Korea called ‘School bell is ddaeng ddaeng ddaeng.’ ‘Ring a bell (to one’s life)’ is used to describe that someone is dead (figuratively, not literally), which makes a good transition to the next line.
야 이번 생은 글렀어 넌 땡
Hey, this life of yours has no hope, you’re ddaeng [3]
힙합? 땡
Hip hop? ddaeng [1]
Rap style? 땡
Rap style? ddaeng [1]
걍 랩퍼, 땡
Just a rapper, ddaeng [1]
방탄=땡
Bangtan = ddaeng [1]
The above four lines sum up the criticism or hatred BTS has been receiving as ‘hip hop idols.’ Some people (including some hip hop artists; especially in the early days of BTS) denounced BTS saying that what BTS does cannot be labeled as hip hop since they are idols.
But 현실, bang
But the reality is bang
Worldwide, bang
차트 위 bang bang, 땡
On top of the chart bang bang ddaeng [2]
Got money, woo
AP, woo
AP stands for Audemars Piguet, a Swiss manufacturer of luxury mechanical watches.
좋은 집, woo
Nice house, woo
누군가의 dream life, woo
Someone’s dream life, woo
How bout you? uh
I like you! uh
이 성공 uh
This success uh
네 덕분 uh
is thanks to you uh
웃기지 웃기지? 얘
Funny, right? yeah
얘 (pronounced as yeh), literally, is a shortened form of 이 아이, meaning “this kid.” It could be used to casually call/address someone of the same age or younger.
어이없이 느끼지? 얘
Feeling dumbfounded, right? yeah
솔직히 지들이, 얘
Honestly, why these people, yeah
왜 저리 난리인지, 얘
are making such a fuss, yeah
차분히 생각해, 얘
think about it calmly, yeah
시간은 많기에, 얘
because you got a lot of time, yeah
얘 (the listener; this kid) is haters, who got a lot of time because they don’t have anything to do other than hating BTS.
이건 숙제야 숙제, 얘
This is your homework, yeah
못 풀면 네 문제는, 땡
If you can’t solve it, your problem is ddaeng [1, 3]
[1] Your answer to the homework question is wrong. [3] Your problem is unsolvable.
일팔 일삼 삼팔 땡
One-Eight One-Three Three-Eight ddaeng [5]
U wrong me right 잘 봐 땡
U wrong me right Look carefully, ddaeng [1]
학교종 울려라 brr brr 땡
Ring the school bell brr brr ddaeng [2]
야 이번 생은 글렀어 넌 땡
Hey, this life of yours has no hope, you’re ddaeng [3]
일팔 일삼 삼팔 땡
One-Eight One-Three Three-Eight ddaeng [5]
U wrong me right 잘 봐 땡
U wrong me right Look carefully, ddaeng [1]
잠깐만 멈춰봐 얼음 땡
Stop for a second, ice ddaeng [4]
야 이번 생은 글렀어 넌 땡
Hey, this life of yours has no hope, you’re ddaeng [3]
땡
Ddaeng [1]
음.. 내가 보기엔 너네는 땡
Hmm.. from my perspective, you guys are ddaeng [1]
우리 모두가 땡
We all are ddaeng [1]
(1) “We all are wrong.”
(2) All BTS members are giving ‘ddaeng’ to ‘you guys.’ “We all think that you all are wrong.”
누가 끗발이 좋던 간에
Whoever gets their points in this game,
The literal translation of this line is ‘whoever has a good 끗발,’ where 끗발 meaning a player constantly getting good cards in gambling. 끗 (kkeut) refers to the points in gambling.
나는 땡 전혀 상관 안 해
I’m ddaeng [5] I don’t care at all
Because BTS has Three-Eight, the invincible pair of gwangs, it doesn’t matter whoever gets what.
Hunnit bae hunnit bar hunnit bbae hunnit bae 땡
Hunnit bae hunnit bar hunnit bbae hunnit bae ddaeng
(1) In “Come Back Home,” BTS’ remake of Seo Taiji & Boys’ 1995 song of the same title, RM raps “hunnit band hunnit band hunnit band,” which means ‘$100,000, $100,000, $100,000.’ The same lyrics can be found in Childish Gambino’s “This is America,” which was BTS’ favorites at the time of their Love Yourself: Tear US promotion.
(2) Although they are not really noticeable when listening, the lyrics have slight variations: bae (baby), bar (a sentence in lyrical hip hop songs or a slang for money/bill), bbae (business before anything else).
이 음악은 똥이야 bae
This song is shit bae
똥 (poop; ddong), is actually a nickname for the November cards of Hwatu because they have 오동나무 (paulownia trees) on them and 동 (dong) becomes 똥 (ddong) when pronounced stiffly. November cards are considered desirable because there is one gwang card and also one regular card that gives you two points instead of one.
배알 꼴리겠지만 bae
Though you would be super annoyed bae
니 주장이 다 맞아 bae
all your claims are right bae
우린 망해가고 있네
We’re failing
빌보드 니 덕분이야 bae
Billboard is all thanks to you bae
우리 위 아무도 없네
There’s no one above us
우린 망해가고 있기에 thanks
because we’re failing thanks
고맙다 고맙다 고맙다
Thank you thank you thank you
여지껏 무시해줘 고맙다
Thank you for looking down on us until now
덕분에 스타디움 돔 빌보드
Thanks to you- stadium, dome, Billboard,
많은 것을 덕분에 많이도 얻었다
we earned so many things thanks to you
작은 회사 친구들아
Friends from small companies,
너네가 곧 대기업이 되길
I hope you become big companies soon
우린 앞으로 바람대로 또 망할테니
We’ll fail again as you wish,
계속 걱정해주길
so I hope you keep worrying about us
끗
The end
‘The end’ should be spelled 끝 instead of 끗, which means points in gambling as explained above. The are pronounced the same, kkeut.
일팔 일삼 삼팔 땡
One-Eight One-Three Three-Eight ddaeng [5]
U wrong me right 잘 봐 땡
U wrong me right Look carefully, ddaeng [1]
학교종 울려라 brr brr 땡
Ring the school bell brr brr ddaeng [2]
야 이번 생은 글렀어 넌 땡
Hey, this life of yours has no hope, you’re ddaeng [3]
일팔 일삼 삼팔 땡
One-Eight One-Three Three-Eight ddaeng [5]
U wrong me right 잘 봐 땡
U wrong me right Look carefully, ddaeng [1]
잠깐만 멈춰봐 얼음 땡
Stop for a second, ice ddaeng [4]
야 이번 생은 글렀어 넌 땡
Hey, this life of yours has no hope, you’re ddaeng [3]
캐셔 계산 소리 땡
The sound when the cashier is checking me out ddaeng [2]
어릴 적 좋아함 얼음땡
I liked it when I was young- ice ddaeng [4]
난 딩동, 넌 땡
I’m ding-dong, you’re ddaeng [1, 2]
Think about a quiz-show like setting. Ding-dong refers to the xylophone sound when the answer is correct, and ddaeng is the sound when the answer is wrong; “I’m correct, and you’re wrong.”
넌 7끗, 난 땡
Your cards are mediocre, I’m ddaeng [5]
The literal translation of this line is ‘you are 7-kkeut, I’m ddaeng.’ In 섰다, your cards make a 7-kkeut if the months add up to 7 (unit digit; 1+6, 3+4, 8+9, etc.), which is clearly much inferior to ddaeng.
라면 먹고 잔 얼굴 땡
Sleeping after eating ramen, the face gets puffy ddaeng [6]
떨거지들 두욜땡
Dregs, do your thang
날 봐 난 니 errthang
Look at me I’m your errthang
니가 쩔어? 멋져? 개얼탱..
You’re dope? You’re cool? I’m at a loss for words..
개얼탱 (pronounced as gae-ul-taeng) is a slang describing a situation where one finds something so ridiculous that s/he is at a loss for words. Notice how the above three lines end-rhyme with ‘ddaeng’ (by ending with thang, errthang, or ultaeng).
너무 어 얼 탱이가 없어 말을 더 더 더 듬어도
Even if I s- st- stutter because I’m so d- dumbfounded,
양해르 조 좀 바랄게 내가 말주 벼 변이 좀 부족해
please e- excuse me I’m a rather p- poor ta- talker
그래도 도 말은 바로 로 로 하려는데 입이 자꾸 비뚤 어 어 어 지네 너무 조 조 조 좋아서 서 너무 좋아서 서
But s- still I try to talk r- ri- rightly but my mouth k- keeps getting c- c- crooked because I li- li- like it s- so much like it s- so much
헤이러도 없는 랩퍼들은 좀 닥쳐
Rappers who don’t even have haters, just shut up
너의 헤이러가 어딨어
Where on earth are your haters
눈씻고 세수한 뒤 거울을 봐
Cleanse your eyes, wash your face, and look into the mirror
거기 숨쉬는 바로 너의 헤이러
Right there they’re breathing, your hater
우린 셀럽보단 celebrate
We celebrate rather than being celebrities
오직 엑셀 no break
We only step on the accelerator, no break
(or, “we only excel, no break”)
니가 뭔데 날 인정해
Who do you think you are to approve me
이름값 하는 개구리들
Frogs that are living up to their name-
우물 안에 죽기를
to die in the well,
간절히 기도할게
I will sincerely pray
As explained in 항상 (HANGSANG), Frog in a well is a story about a frog that lived in a well, thinking that the small well is the entire world.
땡
Ddaeng [3]
일팔 일삼 삼팔 땡
One-Eight One-Three Three-Eight ddaeng [5]
U wrong me right 잘 봐 땡
U wrong me right Look carefully, ddaeng [1]
학교종 울려라 brr brr 땡
Ring the school bell brr brr ddaeng [2]
야 이번 생은 글렀어 넌 땡
Hey, this life of yours has no hope, you’re ddaeng [3]
일팔 일삼 삼팔 땡
One-Eight One-Three Three-Eight ddaeng [5]
U wrong me right 잘 봐 땡
U wrong me right Look carefully, ddaeng [1]
잠깐만 멈춰봐 얼음 땡
Stop for a second, ice ddaeng [4]
야 이번 생은 글렀어 넌 땡
Hey, this life of yours has no hope, you’re ddaeng [3]
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doolset lyrics 