Friday 22 February 2013

Gloomy Sunday: Compelling Despair




This has to be here, a song known for being so sad that it inspires suicide. It's even stronger because of the video with pictures of the tragic Marilyn Monroe with the song playing.

I love that people believe that music is so strong that it can lead you to great acts of violence. It's been said of heavy metal music and rap music.

Gloomy Sunday is so sad that it is said to have pushed people over the edge several times. I wonder if Fado has been blamed for any deaths?

Originally called "The End of the World", it was written in Hungary in 1932 by Rezső Seress. Below is a video of an English group called Budapest Cafe Orchestra performing it. They've got something very cool going on. The gypsy violin sound is probably more heart-wrenching than pictures of Marilyn. 

On Wikipedia, it says:

Seress initially had difficulty finding a publisher, mainly due to the unusually melancholy nature of the song. One potential publisher stated:

"It is not that the song is sad, there is a sort of terrible compelling despair about it. I don't think it would do anyone any good to hear a song like that."






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