70 Favorite Songs: 17. Gloomy Sunday
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
Sunday is gloomy
with shadows I spend it all
My heart and I have decided to end it all
Soon there’ll be flowers and prayers that are sad,
I know, let them not weep,
Let them know that I’m glad to go
Death is no dream,
For in death I’m caressing you
With the last breath of my soul I’ll be blessing you
Gloomy Sunday
Dreaming
I was only dreaming
I wake and I find you
Asleep in the deep of
My heart
Dear
Darling I hope that my dream never haunted you
My heart is telling you how much I wanted you
Gloomy Sunday
Composer / Performer: Rezso Seress with László Jávor
First Released: 1933
Genre: hmm…it’s not Pop. let’s call it one of the Really-Depressing-Songs-That-May-Cause-People-to-Commit-Suicide Genre.
Popular Covers: Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Sarah McLachlan, Heather Nova, Bjork, Sarah Brightman
Performer in You Tube [above]: Billie Holiday
Performer in mp3 [see my multiply]: Sarah McLachlan
First Heard In: Sarah Brightman’s La Luna album
Why I Love It: It’s known as the ‘Hungarian Suicide Song’ so it figures I’d like it. I read about it in a book (about popular urban legends) years before I was finally able to listen to it. As you can see, I’m still alive. The last two stanzas were added to lessen the pessimism of the song. The original Rezso Seress lyrics (with English translation) are here. The popular version we know now is the Laszlo Javor lyric translated by Sam Lewis.
Also Listen To: I don’t know any other suicide songs, do you?
