WARNING: IF YOU FIND THIS DISTURBING, PLEASE LEAVE NOW!!! Gloomy Sunday - the notorious 'Hungarian Suicide Song' - was written in 1933. Its melody and original lyrics were the creation of Rezsô Seress, a self-taught pianist and composer born in Hungary in 1899. The crushing hopelessness and bitter despair which characterised the two stanza penned by Seress were superseded by the more mournful, melancholic verses of Hungarian poet László Jávor. When the song came to public attention it quickly earned its reputation as a 'suicide song'. Reports from Hungary alleged individuals had taken their lives after listening to the haunting melody, or that the lyrics had been left with their last letters. The lyricists Sam M. Lewis and Desmond Carter each penned an English translatation of the song. It was Lewis's version, first recorded by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra, with Bob Allen on vocals (1936), that was to become the most widely covered. The popularity of Gloomy Sunday increased greatly through its interpretation by Billie Holiday (1941). In an attempt to alleviate the pessemistic tone a third stanza was added to this version, giving the song a dreamy twist, yet still the suicide reputation remained. Gloomy Sunday was banned from the playlists of major radio broadcasters around the world. The B.B.C. deemed it too depressing for the airwaves. Despite all such bans, Gloomy Sunday continued to be recorded and sold. People continued to buy the recordings; some committed suicide. Rezsô Seress jumped to his death from his flat in 1968. http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/ personally i think it's a beautiful song... sad lyrics yes... but not depressing enough to make people kill themselves unless those people have a serious depression problem... here's a list of different versions of the song... i like the one by Sarah Brightman the best... Sarah McLachlan Sinead O'Connor Sarah Brightman Marianne Faithfull Lyndia Lunch Lim Hee Sook Heather Nova Gitane Demone Elvis Costello Diamanda Galas Damia (i don't like this one... it sounds like it's made to freak u out) Carol Kidd Bjork Billie Holiday Anarchist (Gloomy Sunday the movie OST) CREDITS: no1hk.net there could b more remakes... but these r the only ones i can find atm...
o v e r t u r e t o d e a t h D. P. MacDonald In February of 1936, Budapest Police were investigating the suicide of a local shoemaker, Joseph Keller. The investigation showed that Keller had left a suicide note in which he quoted the lyrics of a recent popular song. The song was "Gloomy Sunday". The fact that a man chose to quote the lyrics of a little-known song may not seem very strange. However, the fact that over the years, this song has been directly associated with the deaths of over 100 people is quite strange indeed. Following the event described above, seventeen additional people took their own lives. In each case, "Gloomy Sunday" was closely connected with the circumstances surrounding the suicide. Among those included are two people who shot themselves while listening to a gypsy band playing the tune. Several others drowned themselves in the Danube while clutching the sheet music of "Gloomy Sunday". One gentleman reportedly walked out of a nightclub and blew his brains out after having requested the band to play "The Suicide Song". The adverse effect of "Gloomy Sunday" was becoming so great that the Budapest Police thought it best to ban the song. However, the suppression of "Gloomy Sunday" was not restricted to Budapest, nor was its seemingly evil effects. In Berlin, a young shopkeeper hung herself. Beneath her feet lay a copy of "Gloomy Sunday". In New York, a pretty typist gassed herself leaving a request that "Gloomy Sunday" should be played at her funeral. Many claim that broken romances are the true causes of these suicides. However, this is debatable. For instance, one man jumped to his death from a seventh story window followed by the wailing strains of "Gloomy Sunday". He was over 80 years old! In contrast to this, a 14 year old girl drowned herself while clutching a copy of "The Suicide Song". Perhaps the strongest of all was the case of an errand boy in Rome, who, having heard a beggar humming the tune, parked his cycle, walked over to the beggar, gave him all his money, and then sought his death in the waters beneath a nearby bridge. As the death toll climbed, the B.B.C. felt it necesssary to suppress the song, and the U.S. network quickly followed suit. A French station even brought in psychic experts to study the effects of "Gloomy Sunday" but had no effect on the ever climbing death rate. The composer, Rezsô Seress, who in 1933 wrote "Gloomy Sunday", was as bewildered as the rest of the world. Although he wrote the song on the breakup of his own romance, he never dreamed of the results which would follow. However, as fate would have it, not even Seress could escape the song's strange effects. At first he had a difficult time getting someone to publish the song. Quite frankly, no one would have anything to do with it. As one publisher stated, "It is not that the song is sad, there is a sort of terrible compelling despair about it. I don't think it would do anyone any good to hear a song like that." However, time passed and Seress finally got his song published. Within the week "Gloomy Sunday" became a best seller, Seress contacted his ex-lover and made plans for a reunion. The next day the girl took her life through the use of poison. By her side was a piece of paper containing two words: "Gloomy Sunday". When questioned as to just what he had in mind when he wrote the song, Seress replied, "I stand in the midst of this deadly success as an accused man. This fatal fame hurts me. I cried all of the disappointments of my heart into this song, and it seems that others with feelings like mine have found their own hurt in it." As the months went by and the excitement died down, the B.B.C. agreed to release "Gloomy Sunday", but only as an instrumental. This version was later made into a record. A London policemen heard this particular arrangement being repeatedly and endlessly played in a nearby apartment. He considered this to be worthy of investigation. Upon entering the apartment, he found an automatic phonograph playing and replaying the tune. Next to it was a woman, dead from an overdose of barbiturates. It was this incident which prompted the B.B.C. to reimpose its ban on the song. To this day it has not been lifted. As a final note, "Gloomy Sunday" was introduced to the U.S. market in 1936. However, getting it recorded was no easy matter. Bob Allen and members of the Hal Kemp band were the first to record "Gloomy Sunday" in the U.S. They were noticeably affected while making the record. It took twenty-one takes to turn out a record good enough to publish. Few people who have ever listened to the melody and lyrics fail to confess that it has a horribly depressing effect. Finally, it is not surprising to note that Rezsô Seress, the composer of "Gloomy Sunday", committed suicide in 1968. http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/article_01.htm
hmm the Damia one sounds kinda freaky..=\ But I think it's only scary cause these kinds of songs are usually heard in horror movies these days. The weird thing though, I sorta was able to visualize an old ladies face when the female voice was playing.. Damnit dawn! I hope this isn't like that movie The Ring where you have to get somebody else you listen to it or ur gonna X_X! O no.. I'm freaking out..
hahaha... nah... if this was like the ring i wouldn't put up a warning sign... and i would put up a more tempting title so everyone would listen
i find it beautifully sad... may b reading the lyrics will help g l o o m y s u n d a y -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- s a m m l e w i s l y r i c s Sunday is gloomy, my hours are slumberless Dearest the shadows I live with are numberless Little white flowers will never awaken you Not where the black coach of sorrow has taken you Angels have no thought of ever returning you Would they be angry if I thought of joining you? Gloomy Sunday Gloomy is Sunday, with shadows I spend it all My heart and I have decided to end it all Soon there'll be candles and prayers that are sad I know Let them not weep let them know that I'm glad to go Death is no dream for in death I'm caressing you With the last breath of my soul I'll be blessing you Gloomy Sunday Dreaming, I was only dreaming I wake and I find you asleep in the deep of my heart, here Darling, I hope that my dream never haunted you My heart is telling you how much I wanted you Gloomy Sunday
you know the song by third eye blind - I will understand? the songs about suicide too, but its kinda more happy and mellow. Can anyone refer some GOOD easy listening songs about suicide kinda like the third eye blind song? pm the name and artist to me please. thanks
they only call it "the suicide song" coz a lot of ppl comitted suicide after listening to it... and also the writer of this song jumped out of the window n killed himself... but i don't think it's because of the song... i think is's just depression
