Gloomy Sunday
Pulp Flash’s theme song, Gloomy Sunday, actually has a bit of a history to it (which was part of the appeal in using it):
“Gloomy Sunday” is a song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress in 1933 to a Hungarian poem written by László Jávor (original Hungarian title of both song and poem “Szomorú vasárnap” (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈsomoruː ˈvɒʃaːrnɒp]), in which the singer reflects on the horrors of modern culture.
Though recorded and performed by many singers, “Gloomy Sunday” is closely associated with Billie Holiday, who scored a hit version of the song in 1941. Owing to unsubstantiated urban legends about its inspiring hundreds of suicides, “Gloomy Sunday” was dubbed the “Hungarian suicide song” in the United States. Seress did commit suicide in 1968, but most other rumors of the song being banned from radio, or sparking suicides, are unsubstantiated, and were partly propagated as a deliberate marketing campaign. Possibly due to the context of the Second World War, Billie Holiday’s version was, however, banned by the BBC. – Wikipedia
I have it in my notebook, actually…
Szomorú Vasárnap:
Ösz van és peregnek a sárgult levelek
Meghalt a földön az emberi szeretet
Bánatos könnyekkel zokog az öszi szél
Szívem már új tavaszt nem vár és nem remél
Szívtelen rosszak és kapzsik az emberek…
Meghalt a szeretet!
Vége a világnak, vége a reménynek
Városok pusztulnak, srapnelek zenélnek
Emberek véretöl piros a tarka rét
Halottak fekszenek az útin szerteszét
Még egyszer elmondom csendben az imámat:
Uram, az emberek gyarlók és hibáznak…
Vége a világnak!
[translation]
It is autumn and the leaves are falling
All love has died on earth
The wind is weeping with sorrowful tears
My heart will never hope for a new spring again
My tears and my sorrows are all in vain
People are heartless, greedy, and wicked…
Love has died!
The world has ended, hope has ceased to have meaning
Cities are being wiped out, shrapnel is making music
Meadows are coloured red with human blood
There are dead people on the streets everywhere
I will say another quiet prayer:
People are sinners, Lord; they make mistakes…
The world has ended!
Wow, nice addition.
I’ve been thinking about the lyrics since reading your post – so bleak, but what kind of modern era band could get away with it?
Death Metal, maybe, but I just can’t see a bunch of shaggy guys in black t-shirts screaming out these lyrics over a wall of guitar.
It seems these days all of our musical melodrama is urban/suburban and theres no room for a good old fashioned heart rending epic.
(All love has died on earththen you shoulda put a ring on it..?)