Gloomy Sunday
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"Gloomy Sunday" (Szomorú Vasárnap) is a song written by the Hungarian self-taught pianist and composer Rezsö Seress in 1933. It allegedly inspired many suicides and so quickly became known as the "Hungarian suicide 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 on 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.
Paul Robeson (1936) and Diamanda Galás (1992) used Carter's lyrics in their versions of the song.
Artists who have covered the song include:
- Billie Holiday (1941)
- Sarah Vaughan (1961)
- Genesis (1968)
- Ray Charles (1969)
- Lydia Lunch (1979)
- Kronos Quartet
- Christian Death (1986)
- Serge Gainsbourg (1988) - in French
- Sarah McLachlan (1991)
- Sinéad O'Connor (1992)
- Björk (1999)
- Heather Nova (1999)
- Sarah Brightman (2000)
- Loreena McKennitt
- Venetian Snares (2005)
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".
The song was banned by the BBC as too depressing for play, which may have inspired Spider Robinson's short story "The Law of Conservation of Pain", part of the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon series.
Seress himself jumped to his death from his apartment in 1968.
See also
External links
- Full list of recordings of the song (http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/recordings.htm)
- English version of lyrics by Sam Lewis (http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/lyrics_lewis.htm)
- English version of lyrics by Desmond Carter (http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/lyrics_carter.htm)
- Urban Legend Reference Page on Gloomy Sunday (http://www.snopes2.com/music/songs/gloomy.htm)
- Lyrics Of Gloomy Sunday in Hungarian and English Translation (http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/lyrics_seress.htm)ja:暗い日曜日