Is Gloomy Sunday the most depressing song ever?

"t h e s u i c i d e s o n g

Gloomy Sunday - the notorious 'suicide song' - was written in 1933. Its melody and original lyrics were created by Rezsô Seress, a self-taught pianist and composer born in Hungary in 1899.

The crushing hopelessness and bitter despair which characterised the two stanza penned by Seress were superseded by the more mournful, melancholic verses of Hungarian poet László Jávor.

When the song came to public attention it soon earned a reputation as the 'suicide song'. Several reports from Hungary alleged individuals had taken their lives after listening to the haunting melody or that the lyrics had been left with their last letters.

A third stanza with a dreamy twist was added in an attempt to alleviate the pessemistic tone. The suicide reputation remained.

The three stanza were translated into English by Sam M. Lewis. It was his version of the song which was to become the most widely recorded.

As the popularity of the song grew, courtesy of releases by Artie Shaw (1940) and Billie Holiday (1941), so grew concerns about its effect. The song was banned from the playlists of major radio broadcasters around the world. The B.B.C. deemed it too depressing for the airwaves.

Despite the bans, Gloomy Sunday continued to be recorded and sold.

People continued to buy the recordings; some committed suicide.

Rezsô Seress jumped to his death from his flat in 1968."

I think I've heard Bjork cover this song and it's brilliant.

TRON said:

and sinead o'conner covered it on 'am i not your girl".

These women must be REALLY fool or REALLY dumb 4 covering that song. Nobody can touch Billie Holiday even if they lived her life!

Cassandra Wilson is the ONLY person I could think of doing a Billie Holiday cover and the reason why is she does it with her OWN sound without even trying 2 sound like Billie.

Harlepolis said:

hmmm...you've never heard sinead's have you? there is no attempt whatsoever to sound like billie. sinead just wanted to do an old style jazz record with one or two of her own contributions. she performs it very well. its a whole different feel from the earlier versions.

Now I would like to hear this song...I may have already

Bjork did cover this and it just makes you crumble ~ I believe it was a benefit concert with Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell and others. Here is an ebay link of one for sale (they have several listed right now). ORIG.CD Stormy Weather BJORK,Stevie Nicks,etc Item number: 2546160073

I remember when I first heard Billie Holiday sing this and thinking ~ she OWNED this song. It's been several years since I heard it. I am going to listen to the artists side by side (or, as it is know as the suicide song, is that tempting Fate too much)?