As a red-blooded American, I have occasionally been guilty of thinking the world revolves around the U.S.A. Go ahead, call me an Imperialist Asshole. I try to remind myself it’s not whenever this happens. But, in Korea, with American-style English being crammed in the brain of every child, a McDonald’s on every corner, and usually a Starbucks right next to it, it’s not always easy.
The popular music scene, however, is often a great way to remember. K-Pop dominates. Occasionally, too, a song from elsewhere in the world catches ROK ears, a song that barely registers, if at all, in the United States.
In the mid-1990s, that song was “Lemon Tree.”