“Gloomy Sunday”: Suicide’s very own Internationale

Ask people what day of the week they consider the most depressing and a majority will probably opt for Monday: The day that most of us begin another school, university or working week.

Not everyone would agree with this, though. Certainly not the late singer Billie Holiday who sang the song ‘Gloomy Sunday’ - or its composer, the Hungarian Rezső Seress.

Seress wrote the song after his gilfriend broke up with him. It was a good song. Or, let’s say, it was a very effective song. So effective, in fact, that, since its recording and distribution, quite a number of people, worldwide, have committed suicide after hearing it - sometimes naming the song in their suicide notes, sometimes requesting that the song be played on their funeral.

During the second world war the BBC even banned the song from the British radio, as did some American radio stations.

As I said, a very successful song - though it didn’t bring its composer much happiness either:

The composer, Rezső Seress, who in 1933 wrote “Gloomy Sunday”, was as bewildered as the rest of the world. Although he wrote the song on the breakup of his own romance, he never dreamed of the results which would follow. However, as fate would have it, not even Seress could escape the song’s strange effects.

At first he had a difficult time getting someone to publish the song. Quite frankly, no one would have anything to do with it. As one 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.”

However, time passed and Seress finally got his song published. Within the week “Gloomy Sunday” became a best seller, Seress contacted his ex-lover and made plans for a reunion. The next day the girl took her life through the use of poison. By her side was a piece of paper containing two words: “Gloomy Sunday”.

Rezső Seress, by the way, committed suicide in 1968…