WARNING! DANGEROUS SONG!
Listening to this song could cause serious health problems.
Today's song, 'Gloomy Sunday', (performed by Billie Holiday) is a song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress (after his girlfriend left him) and published in 1933, as 'Vége A Világnak' ('End Of The World').
Delighted that he had finally written a hit, Seress contacted the ex-girlfriend who inspired the song and attempted to get back together with her. The next day, she killed herself by swallowing poison, leaving behind a note with just two words written on it: 'Gloomy Sunday'.
As time went on, 'Gloomy Sunday' was connected to a rash of suicides in Hungary. In all, seventeen people died. Two people shot themselves while listening to a band playing the tune. Several others drowned themselves in a river while clutching the sheet music of 'Gloomy Sunday'. People began to refer to it as 'The Suicide Song' and there were rumors that it was cursed. The Hungarian authorities banned the song from being played in public. However, this did not stop the rash of suicides.
In Berlin, a young shopkeeper hung herself. Beneath her feet, they found a copy of 'Gloomy Sunday'. In New York, a pretty secretary gassed herself, leaving behind her a request that 'Gloomy Sunday' be played at her funeral. In Vienna, a teenage girl drowned herself while clutching the sheet music. In Budapest, a shopkeeper killed himself and left a note containing the lyrics of the song. In London, a woman took an overdose of pills while listening to the record over and over. The song's eerie reputation quickly spread around the world and music publishers from America decided to cash in on its notoriety. They released an English translation of the song and it soon caught on. More deaths followed.
'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...'
Even the song's composer could not escape the curse. Seress was haunted by the all the death and destruction his music had caused, saying: "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.” In 1968, he committed suicide by jumping out the window of his Budapest apartment building and falling to his death.
