"Gloomy Sunday"

What if there was a song that could drive you to do things? What if this song made you take your own life? Is that possible? There is an urban legend that says there is a song that can do just that. In 1932, a Hungarian songwriter wrote what some have called to be one of (if not the) saddest songs ever written. But is it sad enough to make people who hear it commit suicide?

The time of 1932 was a rough time for Europe. The economic depressions of the 1920's were still raging in the early 30's, and then add in the spread of fascism (thanks to Mussolini and Hitler) and you are left with a bleak outlook of the future of the European countries. Hungary in particular was having difficulty making it through the times, and a struggling songwriter named Rezső Seress wanted to convey the mood of the Hungarian peoples in a song. He wrote a song called "Gloomy Sunday" with lyrics about the bleakness of the so-called modern society. A poet friend named László Jávor thought the lyrics weren't depressing enough, so he rewrote them. Jávor was getting over a breakup, so he changed the lyrics to a story of a man who is grieved over the death over his love and how he plans to meet her in the afterlife. There is some confusion over when some of the lyrics were actually written (since some parts of the lyrics were not copyrighted until 1946), but we do know that Seress had a hard time finding anyone to actually publish the music. By the end of 1933, it finally was printed with Jávor's lyrics. 

Rezső Seress on an Album Cover

This is the point when I should say that the brain reacts to music in interesting ways. Sometimes music can evoke sad feelings, or happy feelings, or angry feelings. Music has this ability to affect our brain signals in ways we are still trying to understand. Sometimes, the first time people hear something, it affects them more than someone who's heard similar things all their life. If someone in the 1800's had listened to music of Alice Cooper, they would have been greatly disturbed by it. On the other hand, someone who is listening to Alice Cooper for the first time in 2013 would find it utterly tame. The thing you have to remember here is that when "Gloomy Sunday" was written, there weren't any other songs quite like it in the world, much less Hungary. So when it was released, it was immensely popular in Hungary for the reasons that Seress wrote it in the first place: they could relate to its tone from their situations in life. 

That being said, there is an urban legend that states that an outbreak of suicides occurred after the song was released. Supposedly, in the 1930's, 19 suicides were linked (by press reports) in Hungary and the US. However, with a depression going on, increased famine likelihood, and higher illness rates, there haven't been any conclusive evidence to support the fact that the suicides were directly linked to the song. There were a few bodies pulled from the Danube River who were clutching at the sheet music for "Gloomy Sunday", but these could (and most likely are) exaggerations by the media at the time. So far, no one has been able to prove that the song itself drove people to suicide.

The song has, on the other hand, gained quite a popular following with all the "mystery" surrounding it, as well as the subsequent cover versions recorded of it. The most famous version of the song was recorded by Billie Holliday in 1941. This version was banned by the BBC to be too demoralizing in World War II. It was allowed to be played instrumentally without the words. Oddly enough, the BBC didn't stop banning it until 2002. 

In case you're wondering about Seress, his story ends oddly as well. He was known for being depressed and having some emotional issues. In 1968, he jumped out of a window in Budapest, trying to kill himself. He survived and went to the hospital, where he finally succeeded by choking himself with a wire. Naturally, this only added to the urban legend. 

Here is a link to the Billie Holliday version of the song. Although a sad song, there are far more depressing songs that have been written since. What makes it so much of a downer is the fact that it is written in the key of C minor, which contains three flats. This is what makes the song feel eerie and sad.