Tags
BBC, Billie Holiday, Gloomy Sunday, Hungary, Rezső Seress, Suicide, Sunday, Vienna
“On a sad Sunday with a hundred white flowers,
I awaited for you my dear with a church prayer,
That dream chasing Sunday morning,
The chariot of my sadness returned without you,
Ever since then, Sundays are always sad, tears are my drink bread is my sorrow…
Sad Sunday. Last Sunday dear please come along,
There will even be priest, coffin, catafalque, hearse-cloth.
Even then flowers will be awaiting you,
Flowers and coffin under blossoming trees my journey shall be the last,
My eyes will be open, so that I can see you one more time,
Don’t be frightened from my eyes as I’m blessing you even in my death…
Last Sunday.”
There are many urban legends surrounding Gloomy Sunday, mostly connecting the song with numbers of suicides; the press in the 1930s associated at least 19 suicides, both in Hungary and America, with “Gloomy Sunday”. No studies have drawn a clear link between the song and suicide, yet several Hungarian artists as of recently were assuring me that the song is fatal indeed; more so – they were taken aback by my statement that those legends were only that – legends… Its composer, Rezső Seress, some 35 years after writing the song, in January 1968 did commit suicide. Billie Holiday’s version of the song was banned from BBC, as being “detrimental to wartime morale”, the ban was lifted only in 2002.
Some more pics of “Vienna’a dark sister” for you… For the record, i’ll choose Pest’s gloom over Vienna’s Sacher cake& waltz anyday. Maybe it’s because i am wired that way – maybe it’s because my mother is from the Old Country, who knows.
L.R.S.
Not heard that Gloomy Sunday with Billie Holiday. I can see that listening to it on a loop could really dip your morale! But I still like it 🙂
More lovely photos and more lovely words from you!
Ali x
Thank you, dear Ali! I love it too! It doesn’t make me feel suicidal, just… appropriately melancholic 😉
It is hard to mention Hungary without broaching the great tradition of suicide in the country of soul-destroying plains! During my unplanned visit to Szolnok, the world suicide capital, to change trains I was reliably informed that an ambulance and crowd gathering across the street was due to the latest version jumping from ”suicide tower” outside the train station. To be at the epi-centre was something of an odd feeling..I used to play a lot of Edit Piaf while living in Eastern Hungary – something it fit in well, but the same echoes reached from some of her songs as Gloomy Sunday. There is more in grainy Budapest than in finely airbrushed Vienna, yes…..
I am really moved by your words… I think it takes special kind of wiring to be drawn to Hungary and Pest itself… It is dark, but much more than that… dark and magnetically attractive to those like us. It’s hard to put to words – even for me, but basically i divide the cities (and countries) to those where i feel at home and those where i don’t; Rome was foreign to me, yet Florence felt like home; London never felt like home – albeit i lived there, neither did NYC… Chicago did, Moscow does and so do Prague and – before all – Pest, let alone that i don’t speak the language. You know, actually the oly local with whom i had a meaningful conversation NOT in English – was an old lady in that synagogue which domes you liked, she spoke Yiddish and i understood her, albeit i haven’t heard it since my granma passed away and can hardly say more then ‘ih fershtich’… dunno, ‘alike attracts alike’ – same with people, same with cities i guess – and i am glad that through the mysterious ways of the cyber world, i got fatally attracted to your blog (albeit i can’t remember how i ended up there FOR THE LIFE OF ME 😉 ) xx
”Dividing the cities into where I feel at home and not” means everything to me personally. Do you consciously make the decision? I don’t think I d at all. Sometimes I might – the history of the country, the language, previous experience with people from that country, but generally I don’t.
I warmed to Romania and Bulgaria very much – Bulgaria perhaps more. Croatia – very much, which makes me think Montenegro and I will get off to a good start, which usually means a lot. A country with mountains has a pretty good chance! Even if it doesn’t rate as high as my Stary Smokovecs!
Aghh, NOOO, Stary Smokovec is a hit below belt line!!!! 😛 You’ll love Montenegro, i promise you… and so do i, albeit it makes me suffer.
Well you’d like Novy Smokovecs then! Didn;t Russians buy much of the properties on the coast? I am looking for a shack here and there – Bulgaria,Macedonia as well. As long as you-know-who’s son has stopped going there for his holidays!
oy, dear – i can’t believe i missed these comments! come over here whenever you want, i’ll help you find something like we have in the country – close to the sea, but not on the immediate beach, those are inexpensive! will email you xx
This is really interesting, I’d never heard about it. Thank you!
Thank you, dear Alison! xxxx
I’d never heard of this before, it’s fascinating. Thank you, Lena!
Thank you dear! xxxx
Very moving post and video! Thank you for the Billie Holiday song; love her music! And never had heard this song.
I am reblogging this link on my new reblog page; love your blog!
Kindly,
judy
Thank you so much, dear Judy! Much appreciated!
Lena
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