Do you know that sad song you listen to, and even before you hit the chorus, do you get depressed? A Hungarian song called “Gloomy Sunday, ” something like “Dark Sunday, ” has been blamed for a series of suicides in various parts of the world.

The song eventually became known as "Hungarian suicidal music" because it is related to at least 100 suicide cases, including that of the composer Rezso Seress himself.

Seress was a composer struggling to make a living from his music. In 1933, he was thrown out of his girlfriend, which made him completely depressed. "Gloomy Sunday" was written as a form of outburst. The composer also had the help of artist friends to make the lyrics more poetic and the melody sadder.

inspiration

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Seress is rumored not to have written of his girlfriend, but of sadness about the social situation of the world, of wars and even apocalyptic predictions. No matter what inspired you, sadness and melancholy are guaranteed.

Another anguish for the composer was the fact that his music was not sold out as soon as it was released, but only 2 years later, when recorded by Pál Kálmar. Soon after, many suicides took place in Hungary - all related to music. The song was then forbidden to play.

Censorship only increased interest in music, which by 1936 had already been translated into English and rewritten. In 1941, Billie Holliday rewrote the song, and the US never prevented its success from being released, even though a year earlier the BBC had considered the song too sad to play.

Story

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The music, however, has never ceased to be in the news and is remembered whenever a suicide case is associated with depressive songs. In the 1980s, "Gloomy Sunday" was brought up again after a boy killed himself after hearing "Suicide Solution" by controversial Ozzy Osbourne.

In 1999, Seress's song was transformed into a script for the German film "Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod", something like "Dark Sunday - a song of love and death." The plot is based on a love triangle, a sad song and a chain of suicides.

Life and work

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If you are also wondering what happened to Seress, come on: during World War II, the composer was captured by Nazis and sent to a concentration camp from which he managed to escape. Then he spent time in theater and circus, even working as a trapeze artist. None of your songs have ever been successful again.

After becoming world-renowned, Seress tried to reconcile with the ex-girlfriend she had separated from when she wrote the fateful lyrics. Soon after, he learned that she had killed herself by poisoning. Beside her, the lyrics were written on a sheet of paper.

In 1968, Seress jumped from the window of his Budapest building. About his music, he stated: “This fatal fame hurts me. I cried all the sadness of my heart in this song, and it seems that other people, with feelings like mine, have found their own pain. ”

Check out the following song, in the Billie Holiday version, with subtitles, and then tell us what you think about it.

* Posted on 11/01/2013