>Szomorú vasárnap.

Utolsó vasárnap kedvesem gyere el

Pap is lesz, koporsó, ravatal, gyászlepel.

Akkor is virág vár, virág és ?koporsó,

Virágos fák alatt utam az utolsó.

Nyitva lesz szemem hogy még egyszer lássalak,

Ne félj a szememt?l holtan is áldalak...

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Utolsó vasárnap.

SERESS REZS?: sz van peregnek a s gult levelek,

Meghalt a f?ld?n az emberi szeretet.

Bánatos k?nnyekkel zokog az ?szi szél,

Szívem már új tavaszt nem vár és nem remél.

Hiába sírok és hiába szenvedek,

Szívtelen rosszak és kapzsik az emberek...

Meghalt a szeretet!

Vége a világnak, vége a reménynek

Városok pusztulnak, srapnelek zenélnek

Emberek vérét?l piros a tarka rét,

Halottak fekszenek az úton szerteszét.

Még egyszer elmondom csendben az imámat:

Uram, az emberek gyarlók és hibáznak ...

Vége a világnak!

Apparently, the song describes an unfortunate man who is unable to bring his loved one back to his side on a melancholy Sunday. The desperate thought of committing suicide for love frequently arises, and this thought is accompanied by the extreme longing for his lover that is difficult to get rid of. p

"Gloomy Sunday" spread to the United States around 1936. Its first English version was recorded in 1940 by jazz artist Paul Robeson. On August 7, 1941, black female singer pBilliep Holidayp reinterpreted the song in her own unique and exquisite way, making it a household hit song in the United States.

By the way, the reason why this song became so popular in the United States has a lot to do with the social environment there at the time. At that time, the United States had not completely escaped the shadow of the Great Depression triggered by the stock market crash in 1929, and fell into a severe economic recession again in 1937-38. This has brought considerable despair to a large number of unemployed people and their families. This sentiment rippled through society and lingered for years to come. Therefore, during this period, people can easily resonate with the sad and depressed mood rendered in the song. In fact, the "Era of Great Despair" sixty years ago produced a number of melancholic songs with as far-reaching influence as "Gloomy Sunday".

Author and creative background

RezsspSeressp

RezsspSeress was born in Hungary in 1899. Seress is a self-taught pianist who aspires to become a famous composer in Paris. However, luck does not seem to favor him. Of course, this is also because he doesn't play the piano very well. Although Seress insisted on his ideals, his fiancée disagreed with him. Finally one afternoon, the two had a conversation, and his fiancée left angrily. p

On a Sunday not long after the quarrel, Seress stayed in his apartment, sitting in front of the piano, staring at the Paris sky with a sad face. The gray sky was covered with dark clouds, and then heavy rain fell. Seeing this situation, Seress murmured to himself: "What a gloomy Sunday." Suddenly, his inspiration suddenly appeared, and his fingers began to play on the piano. He started playing, and thirty minutes later, he finished "Gloomy Sunday." [Szomorúpvasárnap, English translation GloomypSunday]p

With high expectations, Seress sent the song to a music publishing company, but his hopes were disappointed. The company returned his work with a letter that read: "Not because it is a melancholy tune, but because of the soul-stirring despair it conveys. I thought it was This is not good for anyone listening." The first failure did not deter Seress. After several twists and turns, a publisher in Budapest accepted his work, and this time his music could finally be released to the world. "Melancholy Sunday" was first released as a performance version. Seress himself wrote the lyrics. Later, the Hungarian poet Lászlóp Jávor wrote the lyrics for the song, which was sung by the female singer Hernadip Judit. SampM.pLewis translated Jávor's lyrics and named it "GloomypSunday", which was sung by the black female singer BilliepHoliday, which is the most popular English version now. p

"Gloomy Sunday", just like its original name - Gloomy Sunday, seems to have an irresistible magical power of depression. Since its launch, suicides have emerged one after another, even all over the world, and the death toll has reached one There were hundreds of people, and people at the time called it a "suicide song." The most violent situation was in Hungary. After investigating numerous suicides related to "Melancholy Sunday", the police in Budapest believed that the situation was serious, and finally the Hungarian government announced a ban on the song. The British B.B.C radio station also banned this song, and the United States and France even discussed it. p

Seress really did not expect that such a result would occur. He originally wrote this song in the hope of winning back his fiancée's heart, but it actually had the opposite effect. His ex-fiancée committed suicide by taking poison shortly after the release of "Gloomy Sunday" and the day after Seress contacted her. There were a few words written on the paper left beside her - "Gloomy Sunday". p

What caused these tragedies is still unclear to the world. Unfortunately, Seress, the composer of "Melancholy Sunday", also committed suicide on a winter day in 1968. He was nearly seventy years old that year, but he still jumped from a building in Budapest, drawing a blood-black end to the story. p

Over the years, some incredible reports and rumors have given "Gloomy Sunday" an air of extreme mystery. According to MacDonald's article in the first issue of Cincinnati Journal Ceremonial Magick, in February 1936, the Budapest police investigated the suicide of a local shoemaker Josep Kellerp. They discovered that pKellerp had left a suicide note in which he copied the lyrics of the song, which had just become popular at the time.

The inclusion of a lyric in a suicide note may not be a bizarre thing in itself, but what is bizarre is that in later years the song was believed to be directly responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people (like "HundredspofpHungarianspKillpThemselvespunderpthepInfluencepofpApSong"p is almost exaggerated The words once appeared on the front page of the New York Times). Many suicides are connected to this song in one way or another before they die. In Hungary, two people committed suicide while listening to Gypsies playing the song. In addition, quite a few people went to the Danube River to commit suicide, always holding the sheet music of "Melancholy Sunday" in their hands, including a 14-year-old girl. An old man over 80 hummed this tune and jumped to his death from the seventh floor. According to reports, a gentleman walking out of a nightclub shot himself in the head with a bullet, just after he had asked the band to play "Blue Sunday" for him. There is also a widely circulated report involving the composer pRezsopSeressp himself. It is said that when the song started to become a hit, Seressp contacted his ex-girlfriend and proposed the idea of ??a reunion. Unexpectedly, the girl committed suicide by taking poison the next day. There were two words written on a piece of paper next to her: "GloomypSunday". Convinced that this "suicide song" had a disastrous effect on people, the police in Budapest thought it best to ban it. (However, some people believe that Hungary is a country with a high suicide rate. Statistics may not support the theory that this song has the effect of encouraging people to commit suicide.) p

In addition to Hungary, other European countries and There are also reports in the United States that "Gloomy Sunday" triggered suicidal behavior. A young store clerk in Berlin hanged himself. A copy of the score of this song fell at his feet. In Rome, when a newsboy heard a beggar singing the tune of "Melancholy Sunday" on the street, he stopped his bicycle and approached the beggar, gave him all the money he had, and then committed suicide by jumping into the river from a nearby bridge. . In New York, a beautiful female typist committed suicide by gas poisoning and left a suicide note requesting that "Blue Sunday" be played at her funeral. Due to these horrific suicides, the song was banned from BBC radio in the UK and broadcast networks in the US followed suit; Senator Steve Carlp of Washington called for "Blue Sunday" to be banned. In France, there was even a radio station that specially invited spiritualists to discuss the impact of this song on its program, but the broadcast of these programs did not seem to have any effect on the increasing number of suicides at that time. Over time, when public panic over a series of suicides subsided, the BBC agreed to replay "Gloomy Sunday", but only as an instrumental version of the song. This version was quickly recorded. One day, a police officer in London heard this instrumental music coming from a nearby apartment. The music was repeated over and over again endlessly, and he felt that the matter was strange and worthy of investigation. Upon entering the apartment, he found a jukebox playing the tune on repeat, and lying next to the jukebox was a woman who had overdosed on barbiturates, a sedative. p

The author of this song, pRezsopSeressp, ultimately failed to escape the curse of bad luck. On a cold day in the winter of 1968, when he was nearly seventy years old, he committed suicide by jumping off a building. According to reports, pSeressp is a short, humorous Jewish man, a poor piano player, and has always regretted that he did not receive a good music education. Except for being imprisoned in a concentration camp during World War II, his life was mainly spent in the Kispipap Hotel in Budapest ("Kispipa" literally translated as "Little Pipe" in English), where he played the piano for guests. Due to his short stature, his entire body was obscured by a brown piano when he played.

Whenever a new guest, especially a familiar friend, came in, he would raise his left hand (with an eye-catching gold ring on his stubby ring finger), poke his head out, and welcome with a funny smile. This greeting was a gimmick on his part to disguise the fact that he could only play with his right hand. It is said that just to show off, he often got some music scores and put them on the piano stand, and put his nose in front of the piano stand, pretending to play according to the music, but in fact he was not proficient in reading music. . After "Melancholy Sunday" became famous, many music, art and social celebrities came to visit him (or made pilgrimages to the hotel after his death), which made his visitor record look like a p. "Who's Who of the Century", among whom visiting figures include Arthur Rubinstein, Jehudip Menuhin, Arturop Toscanini, Luchinop Visconti, Spencer Tracy, Wallace Beery, Sonja Hennie, Nikita Khruschev, John Steinbeck, Prince Wales, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Farah Dibah, Prince Rezap Pahlavi, Paul Pahlavi. Robeson,CyruspEaton,UpThant,BenjaminopGigli,ConradpVeidt,GeorgepCukor, p blah blah blah. Whenever pSeressp was informed that a big name in the music industry was coming to see him, he would become very nervous and would often spend several days hiding in the end of the hotel kitchen, vigorously cutting on a large cutting board with piano keys painted on it. Practice his tunes. Seressp actually leads a double life in a strange way. He plays the piano for a living, but he's terrible at it. He looks wretched, but his wife, Helenp, is one of the most beautiful beauties in Budapest. Not only was Helenp almost two heads taller than pSeressp, but he was also a Christian (Christians in Europe rarely intermarried with Jews at that time). In order to marry pSeress, she actually left her ex-husband, a handsome and wealthy military officer! Seressp became famous all over the world for writing "Melancholy Sunday", but he never left Budapest in his life (except for being driven into a concentration camp). Seressp was poor throughout his life, but after his death he accumulated millions of dollars in the Irvingp Trust Bank in New York. The money was royalties paid to him that he could not withdraw during his lifetime. Otto Klempererp, who conducted a series of concerts and operas in Budapest from 1947 to 1950, once visited the Kispipap Hotel and left this sentence in the guest book of Seresp: "ErpistpkeinpMusikerp-perpistpnurpempGenie"p(Hepispnopmusicianp-phepispjustpapgenius)p, It means that pSeressp is not worthy of the title of a musician, he is just a genius. Regarding the reason for pSeressp's suicide, one theory is that he felt that he could no longer compose a good song like "Melancholy Sunday", so he chose death in long-term despair.