Billie Holiday, Gloomy Sunday | Controversial Tunes 😈🎶

On the 5th edition of Controversial Tunes, we explore the controversy behind the song, “Gloomy Sunday” notably performed by Billie Holiday.

Bring on the controversy, won’t you? Controversial Tunes 😈🎶 is a column that provides background information and insight into songs that raised eyebrows and totally stirred the pot.  The records that grace Controversial Tunes are old and new alike, with all genres of music welcome.  On the 5^th edition of Controversial Tunes, we explore the controversy behind the song, 🎵 “Gloomy Sunday” by 🎙 Billie Holiday. 

“Sunday is gloomy, my hours are slumber-less
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.”

Well… this one is certainly bummer city…  “Gloomy Sunday” is actually quite beautiful – a radiant gem that has been covered by numerous musicians. BUT It’s also chilling and haunting, thanks to its morbid content. Where the controversy comes into play is two-fold.  First of all, the song’s protagonist exhibits suicidal thoughts. That’s incredibly unsettling in its own right:

“My heart and I have decided to end it all
Soon there’ll be candles and prayers that are sad.”

I mean, that line, as well as the remainder of the lyrics, speak for themselves.  What’s worse and more eerie, however, is that suicide has been connected with the song. “Gloomy Sunday” has, in fact, earned the reputation as the Hungarian suicide song, being “blamed for being connected to more suicides than any other song in history.” Yikes! Adding more fuel to the fire, the composer, Hungarian pianist 🎼✍ Rezső Seress,  committed suicide in 1968! Yikes! Worth noting, the lyrics that became popularized were written by poet 🎼✍ László Jávor (no, he didn’t commit suicide).

Final Thoughts 💭

Just listening to “Gloomy Sunday,” it’s the perfect example of a song that ‘hits different.’  Though I failed to mention it above in detail, Billie Holiday does a fantastic job covering it.  Still, even years beyond the unfortunate, dark history behind the song – which you can read in detail by clicking the embedded links – “Gloomy Sunday” is still a record to wary of.

🎙 Billie Holiday • 💿 The Centennial Collection • 🏷 Columbia • 🗓 2015 

Billie Holiday, “Gloomy Sunday”: Controversial Tunes 😈🎶 No. 5 [📷: Aidan Feddersen on Unsplash, Brent Faulkner, Columbia, The Musical Hype]