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Gloomy Sunday

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For the film Gloomy Sunday, see Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod.

"Gloomy Sunday" (from Hungarian "Szomorú Vasárnap", IPA: ['somoruː 'vɒʃarnɒp]) is a pop song written in 1933, by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress.

Though recorded and performed by many singers, "Gloomy Sunday" is closely associated with Billy Holliday, who scored a hit version of the song in 1941. Due to unsubstantiated urban legends about its inspiring hundreds of suicides, "Gloomy Sunday" was dubbed the "Hungarian suicide song" in the U.S. Seress did commit suicide in 1968, but most other rumors of the song being banned from radio, or sparking suicides, are unsubstantiated, and were partly propagated as a deliberate marketing campaign.[1]

Contents

Song

The crushing hopelessness and bitter despair of the original lyrics by Seress were soon replaced by the melancholic lyrics of the Hungarian poet László Jávor.

Sam M. Lewis and Desmond Carter each translated the song into English. The 1935 British recording by Paul Robeson (released in the US in 1936) combined the relentlessly downbeat Carter lyrics with a dirge-like arrangement, and is perhaps the gloomiest of the English-language versions.

Sam Lewis's adaptation of the lyrics -- still gloomy but less bleak and despairing -- were performed in 1936 by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra, then later by Artie Shaw and Billie Holiday. The popularity of "Gloomy Sunday" increased greatly after its interpretation by Holiday in 1941. Her performance established Lewis's version as the standard for later interpreters. Attempting to alleviate the pessimistic tone, a third stanza was added to the Billie Holiday version, giving the song a dream theme (starting with "Dreaming, I was only dreaming"). Diamanda Galás's 1992 version used Carter's lyrics, but most recent versions have used Lewis's.

The origin of the song became the background of the German/Hungarian movie "Gloomy Sunday - Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod" (1999) (A Song of Love and Death), based on the novel by Nick Barkow, co-written and directed by Rolf Schübel and starring Joachim Król, Ben Becker, Stefano Dionisi and Erika Marozsán.

Urban legends

There have been several urban legends regarding the song over the years, mostly involving it being allegedly connected with various numbers of suicides, and radio networks reacting by purportedly banning the song. However, most of these claims are unsubstantiated.[2]

It is also rumored the music played without lyrics will put the listener into a deep sleep and induce vivid dreams and nightmares. The nightmares usually consist of falling or flying sensations.

In 1968, Rezső Seress, the original composer, jumped to his death from his apartment. His obituary in the New York Times mentions the song's notorious reputation:

“ Budapest, January 13. Rezsoe Seres, whose dirge-like song hit, "Gloomy Sunday" was blamed for touching off a wave of suicides during the nineteen-thirties, has ended his own life as a suicide it was learned today.

Authorities disclosed today that Mr. Seres jumped from a window of his small apartment here last Sunday, shortly after his 69th birthday.

The decade of the nineteen-thirties was marked by severe economic depression and the political upheaval that was to lead to World War II. The melancholy song written by Mr. Seres, with words by his friend, Ladislas Javor, a poet, declares at its climax, "My heart and I have decided to end it all." It was blamed for a sharp increase in suicides, and Hungarian officials finally prohibited it. In America, where Paul Robeson introduced an English version, some radio stations and nightclubs forbade its performance.

Mr. Seres complained that the success of "Gloomy Sunday" actually increased his unhappiness, because he knew he would never be able to write a second hit.

- New York Times, 1968

 ”

In 1997 Billy Mackenzie, vocalist with Scottish band The Associates (who recorded a cover of Holiday's version in 1982), committed suicide near his father's home in Dundee.

The codifying of the urban legend appears in an article attributed to "D.P. MacDonald" and titled "Overture to Death", the text of which has been reproduced and disseminated countless times online. According to the website of Phespirit the article was originally published by the 'Justin and Angi' site to augment their now defunct "Gloomy Sunday Radio Show". Their introduction to the article reads:

“ This message was forwarded to us by a visitor to our web site. There is some good historical information on the song intermixed with some information of more dubious repute. The accounts begin to take on the feel of a satiric e-mail chain letter after a while, but then, sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction. The story does read a little bit like the script of a segment from Strange Universe! So take this with a grain of salt ..... The text was [supposedly] quoted from the Cincinnati (sic) Journal of Ceremonial Magick, vol I, no I, printed in 1976. ”

Performers

Covers

Artists who have covered or reinterpreted the song include:

Other

The Dead Milkmen quoted its lyrics in their 1987 song "(Theme From) Blood Orgy of the Atomic Fern".

Venetian Snares remixed Billie Holiday's version on his album "Rossz Csillag Alatt Született" (English: Born Under a Bad Star).

Emilie Autumn also refers to this song in her song "The Art of Suicide".

Artie Shaw recorded 'Gloomy Sunday' on 3rd March 1940 in Hollywood. Pauline Byrne vocal.

In popular culture

  • Holiday's version was featured in The Simpsons episode “Treehouse of Horror XVII”.
  • There is a Swedish doom metal band from Gothenburg called Gloomy Sunday, and many of their lyrics deal with depression and suicide.
  • The song inspired the Spanish movie The Kovak Box (2006). A writer is trapped on the island of Majorca with people who are injected with a microchip that causes them to commit suicide when they hear "Gloomy Sunday". The song plays during the movie, sung by the actress Lucía Jiménez. A music video from the cover was released as part of the movie promotion.
  • The Japanese movie Densen Uta (2007) was also inspired by this song. In the movie, a high school girl and a magazine editor investigate a series of suicides linked to a mysterious song released 10 years back, including its possible connection to "Gloomy Sunday".
  • Poppy Z. Brite refers to this song in her novel Exquisite Corpse.
  • The song and its surrounding legend play a considerable part in Phil Rickman's novel The Smile of a Ghost, linked to several apparent suicides.
  • The song is featured at the start of the film Schindler's List.
  • The song is featured at the start of the film The Funeral.
  • The song is featured in the movie Gloomy Sunday - Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod.
  • The song is featured in the movie Grindhouse.
  • The song is mentioned as a trivia answer on the British game show QI After the song starts playing Alan Davies press his buzzer to play the Always Look on the Bright Side of Life which Stephen Fry comments is the antidote to Gloomy Sunday.
  • In the film The Man Who Cried, Christina Ricci sings the song in the scene where she and Cate Blanchett are on the ship bound for America.
  • The song's legend may have inspired Spider Robinson's short story "The Law of Conservation of Pain", part of the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon series.
  • The song was feature in the film Wristcutters: A love Story.

References

  1. ^ Brooks, Michael. notes for Lady Day" – the Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia, 1933–1944: "'Gloomy Sunday' reached America in 1936 and, thanks to a brilliant publicity campaign, became known as "The Hungarian Suicide Song". Supposedly after hearing it, distraught lovers were hypnotized into heading straight out of the nearest open window, in much the same fashion as investors after October 1929; both stories are largely urban myths."
  2. ^ http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/gloomy.asp


See also

External links

de:Gloomy Sunday (Lied) es:Gloomy Sunday fr:Szomoru Vasarnap ja:暗い日曜日 ko:우울한 일요일 nl:Gloomy Sunday km:Gloomy Sunday ml:ഗ്ലൂമി സണ്‍‌ഡേ pl:Gloomy Sunday pt:Gloomy Sunday ru:Мрачное воскресенье sv:Gloomy Sunday th:Gloomy Sunday vi:Chủ nhật buồn

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