Late Shin Hae-chul's haunting 'Dream of Freshwater Eel' dominates charts

Shin Hae-chul / Yonhap

The late rock singer Shin Hae-chul, who died Monday at the age of 46, left behind 30 albums spanning his 25-year career. But one song in particular haunted and resonated with fans a day after his death.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Shin’s 1999 song “The Dream of Fresh Water Eel” had topped online music charts including Naver Music, Daum Music, Bugs Music, Sori Bada and Monkey 3 Music.

The song’s posthumous popularity can be linked to the discovery of 2010 interview in which Shin said that he hoped the number ― from the album “Homemade Cookies & 99 Crom Live” ― would be played at his funeral and that its lyrics would be included on his epitaph.

“Only known among my dear fans, the song isn’t easy to mumble along to and didn’t receive much attention,” said the late singer in the interview.

Some fans now interpret the lyrics as the singer’s premonition of his own early demise.

On the song’s chorus, Shin sings, “If I could ever reach underneath the sea, where river streams meet and angrily billow, then I will sob and cry until my heart bursts and end my long journey without remorse.”

The song has also been interpreted as a rumination on early adulthood and the struggles of personal growth.

“To enter the tiny door I must whittle myself over and over, which ultimately leaves me a particle of pride” and “(despite all the happy thoughts) I find myself relentlessly pressing on and on.”

The second verse is: “Shameful sloth and pitiful greed...how much more must I live to gain inner peace. I struggle to fight the gravity of solitude because of fear that I might be forgotten with nothing to remember me by.”

Videos of the late singer performing the ballad were being shared by many bloggers on Tuesday.