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"Gloomy Sunday" (from Hungarian "Szomorú Vasárnap", IPA ) is a song written by the Hungarian self-taught pianist and composer Rezső Seress in 1933. According to urban legend, it inspired hundreds of suicides. According to record publicists when the song was first marketed in America, it became known as the "Hungarian suicide song". There is no substantiation for such claims of suicides, nor is it even documented where any such allegations appear in legitimate press coverage or other publications of the time. This urban legend appears to have been originally generated as a marketing gimmick by song pluggers, and, in more recent years the legend has been greatly furthered by internet exposure.

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: "This article was stolen without permission from the 'JUSTIN AND ANJI' web site; it was originally published to augment their now defunct 'Gloomy Sunday Radio Show'. In the introduction they say:

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 * quoted from the Cincinatti (sic) Journal of Ceremonial Magick, vol I, no I, printed in 1976."

Numerous versions of the song have been recorded and released unaccompanied by suicides. Phil Elwood, writing in JazzWest.com, chronicles "Gloomy Sunday" in American recording history. Elwood, a long-time jazz critic, cites the following words of Michael Brooks, taken from Brooks' program notes accompanying the 10-CD set, "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."

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. Sam Lewis's version was performed from 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 Billie Holiday in 1941. Her performance established Lewis' 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 dreamy theme (starting with "Dreaming, I was only dreaming"). Paul Robeson (1936) and Diamanda Galás (1992) used Carter's lyrics in their versions of the song.

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. Sources propagating the legend fail to provide substantiation for claims of suicides or radio bannings. In 1968, Seress jumped to his death from his apartment. The legend may have inspired Spider Robinson's short story "The Law of Conservation of Pain", part of the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon series.

Performers

Artists who have covered the song include:

The Dead Milkmen did not actually cover the song, but they quoted its lyrics in their 1987 song "(Theme From) Blood Orgy of the Atomic Fern".

See also

External links

1933 songs | Suicide

Gloomy Sunday (Lied) | 暗い日曜日 | 우울한 일요일 | Gloomy Sunday | 黑色的星期天

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Gloomy Sunday".

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