Gloomy Sunday (song)
Gloomy Sunday is the English title of the song Szomorú Vasárnap ( Hungarian for "Sad Sunday") written by László Jávor in 1932 and set to music by the Hungarian pianist Rezső Seress in 1933 . The song, which was also known as the “Song of the Suicide ”, is also known in German-speaking countries under the title The Song of Sad Sunday .
background
László Jávor wrote the text in October 1932 after his fiancée left him. At his request, Seress composed the melody for it in 1933. Several publishers rejected the song because it was too melancholy. Despite this, Gloomy Sunday achieved a certain fame - among other things because it had a reputation for causing people to commit suicide. Considerations to have the song banned by the state failed for various reasons. A BBC ban, for example, could not be enforced internally. Still, many radio stations refused to play the song. A number of films deal with the subject, the first from 1948, the last so far from 2016.
Versions
In addition to the original text by Jávor, there was later a second version, Vége a világnak… (End of the World), written by Seress during the Second World War . This was no longer about a lost love, but about the cruelty of war and the disappearance of humanity. The best-known text version, however, is the English-language version by Sam M. Lewis ; an English text by Desmond Carter became far less popular. In German, the English term Gloomy Sunday does not mean sad Sunday (dt. Sad, engl. Sad), but gloomy or depressing Sunday . In contrast to the English or German texts, the Hungarian text does not express suicidal thoughts directly.
Since the 1930s, over 50 other versions have been published worldwide under the English title alone. The soundtrack CD for the film A Song of Love and Death - Gloomy Sunday contains different versions of the song, from classical to rock to spoken word .
Gloomy Sunday is available in different versions by the following artists (list in alphabetical order, extracts):
Individual evidence
- ↑ phespirit.info: Gloomy Sunday. Extensive list of publications