File:Okeh_gloomy_sunday_6451.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Language
- Hungarian
- English title
- Gloomy Sunday
- Genre
- Jazz
- Length
- 3 : 10
- Songwriter
- Rezső Seress
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Named after
- Sunday
- Composer
- Rezső Seress
- Performer
- Billie Holiday
Show 4 more facts
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
"Gloomy Sunday" (Hungarian: Szomorú Vasárnap) is a song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress and published in 1933.
The original lyrics were titled "Vége a világnak" ("The World Is Ending") and were about despair caused by war, ending in a quiet prayer about people's sins. Poet László Jávor wrote his own lyrics to the song, titled "Szomorú vasárnap" ("Sad Sunday"), in which the protagonist wants to kill himself after his lover ends their relationship. The latter lyrics ended up becoming more popular while the former were essentially forgotten. The song was first recorded in Hungarian by pop singer Pál Kalmár in 1935.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Gloomy Sunday” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.