Guest Author - Melissa Lamkin
You and a friend are coasting along in your car when a beautiful but slightly mournful sounding song comes on the radio. You've never heard it, but your friend jumps to change stations. “We can't listen to that. It's a the suicide song!” your friend says matter of factly. Just what is this song that has caused more rumors and maintained the “suicide song” title longer than any other challenger? (See hysterical discussions on the music of Pink Floyd and Judas Priest for other examples)
Gloomy Sunday
Sure, we know from the title it's not going to be an upbeat song, but let's look a little closer:
There are at least 90 individual recordings of this song, from the first recording in 1935 to the present day. It has been translated from the original Hungarian into French, German, and even Vietnamese and Cantonese. The song has been recorded by some of the greatest singers (Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and others) and has been used in movie sound tracks and was even the basis for one movie. The song was written in 1933 and was a musical version of a poem by László Jávor. The Hungarian title of both are: Szomorú vasárnap . This author doesn't read or speak Hungarian though, so don't ask how to pronounce it.
The origins of this particular legend are somewhat murky but seem to have two main sources and lots of anecdotal stories that have fed into it. One of the main sources came from the incredibly clever publicity for Billie Holiday's 1941 recording in which the song was branded “The Hungarian Suicide Song” and reportedly caused lover's to fling themselves out windows after hearing it. The second source is somewhat harder to pin down. There once was a radio show named the “Gloomy Sunday Radio Show” that published an article purportedly by D.P. McDonald called “Overture to Death” which detailed the historical connections the song had to individual deaths. The actual origin of the article is unknown, as is the actual author, but the article has been reproduced across the internet and the legend has been largely codified because of it.
The lyrics are definitely not happy and the original composer did commit suicide (30 years later) which contributed the legend. But what truly helped feed the legend in the early years was the reported fact that the BBC had banned the song from its airwaves. According to an article from The Times the song was banned from World War II until the turn of the 21st Century when the BBC looked over it's banned list.
That's it for this legend. While there are many anecdotal stories associated with the song, none can be proved and won't be repeated here. It's simply a sad, sad song that had some really great PR in the early days to give it a boost in the charts.
So give the song a listen, if you dare. There are over 90 versions and reinterpretations to choose from. Billie Holiday's is still haunting and beautiful and eminently easy to listen to.
