Gloomy Sunday

[The_Magician_Lord]

I was recently reading about a song called "Gloomy Sunday" which supposedly caused people to commit suicide in the 1930s and 1940s. Some of you may of heard of this song, but for those who haven't before you go start believing the B.S I have come to the conclusion that most of it, if not all of it, is B.S.

Skip this paragraph if you already know it didn't cause suicides.
1. This was during "The great depression" suicides were not uncommon.
2. This was in Hungary, a country which already had a very high suicide rate.
3. Every single one of the suicides are from sources which aren't credible.
4. This was used as an advertising strategy, wouldn't a "Suicide song" catch your eye?
5. Some of the sources state things so B.S it's unreal "A boy heard a beggar humming the tune. The boy got off his bike and threw himself into a river" XD talk about obvious creepypasta
6. Anyone that DID commit suicide, did so because of The Great Depression, WWII, social problems etc...
7. This song was a hit of it's day, if everybody who listened to it committed suicide, half of hungary's population would've committed suicide.
TRUTHS:
1. It's composer, Rezso Seress, did actually commit suicide. 30 years later in his old age. Most people believe it was because he could never produce another hit song like Gloomy Sunday. He was a financially struggling man.
2. BBC did actually ban the song until 2002 because they didn't want something with such a reputation on their radios. Also it's not like it would help in The Great Depression.

Now why did the song get these urban legends? Because it's creepy? No, apparently it's because it's "The worlds saddest song" Now I don't know about you, but that last thing sad music makes ME want to do is commit suicide. Now on the topic of the actual song and not the retarded urban legends. What do you think of the song? I personally think it's FAR from the world's saddest music, it's nice and all but I can think of many pieces of music sadder than it. What do you think of the song? Some people think it's beautiful. Here's a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kkxbw3s2pM

On the topic on it being The worlds saddest music, i can already think of a piece of music sadder, that's not even in gaming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPLcZ5Rk3Lg

What do you think of it?

 

[Glongpre]

If you didn't tell me it was supposed to be sad, I would never have thought that.

That Titanic song is sad because of the context, but I will agree it is sadder than Gloomy Sunday.

I would say To Zanarkand is sad, but again context.

Any song could be sad given personal experiences.

And by sad I mean there is the potential that you may cry, or get choked up.

 

[The_Magician_Lord]

You are right. Though there are some songs that you could throw at me, without me knowing anything about it, and I would still find the song very sad. This on the other hand, while I don't think it's the most cheerful song in the world, it's hardly very sad. I just found really weird how it has been called by some "The Saddest Song in the world" when I can think of many songs sadder than it. Probably the urban legends that give it all the hype?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Nah never believed it. It was a cool story though when I first found out.

 

[Able Seacat]

I remember hearing about this on QI. Makes me sad that Stephen Fry spoke incorrect information.

 

[The_Magician_Lord]

What do you think of the actual song?

 

[The_Magician_Lord]

I remember hearing about this on QI. Makes me sad that Stephen Fry spoke incorrect information.

I think QI just got that random information from Wikipedia and took the piss. They don't exactly take it seriously, Stephen Fry was just quoting what he read. (Read as in the read that is pronounced red. **** english)

 

[Tom_green_day]

Well it's definately a beautiful piece of music. I'm also sure that it did factor into suicides, OP mentioned the Depression and wars and stuff. Suicides aren't just caused by one thing, they are caused by the culmination of multiple factors, and this could well be one. I'll doubt it caused much of an epidemic however, as the style of music was no longer very popular in the 30s/40s, being replaced by Jazz/Blues and the like.
EDIT: I'll strongly disagree that the song, used in your example in Titanic, is sadder. Maybe in the context of the film with everyone dying, but sung in church like the hymn I assume it is, it would just be run-of-the-mill.

 

[The_Magician_Lord]

Well it's definately a beautiful piece of music. I'm also sure that it did factor into suicides, OP mentioned the Depression and wars and stuff. Suicides aren't just caused by one thing, they are caused by the culmination of multiple factors, and this could well be one. I'll doubt it caused much of an epidemic however, as the style of music was no longer very popular in the 30s/40s, being replaced by Jazz/Blues and the like.
EDIT: I'll strongly disagree that the song, used in your example in Titanic, is sadder. Maybe in the context of the film with everyone dying, but sung in church like the hymn I assume it is, it would just be run-of-the-mill.

But here's the thing, how does sad music factor into committing suicide? You might say "Hur dur because it makes you sad" but sadness isn't what makes people commit suicide, problems do. Problems that the person thinks he/she cannot solve and cope to live with. Things like losing money etc...

As for it being the saddest music, maybe by 1930s standards? That's all I can think of, seeing as most music made then was happy Jazz like you said. But even then, there's probably some of those music from 1700s and 1800s which were pretty good like Beethoven and Mozart and I bet there's some music in there that's pretty sad.

 

[The_Magician_Lord]

Anyway so I doubt this caused suicides, and even if it was a factor it would be an absolutely tiny factor. Was there no other sad music available then or something?

I myself don't think it's that sad, someone thought it was, and someone else said they wouldn't even know it was meant to be sad if I didn't tell him XD So I think we agree some people think it's sad, but not the saddest music ever?

 

[The_Magician_Lord]

Had another listen and what is going through my mind is "The song isn't even sad. The Lyrics are on the non-instrumental version" nothing else.
How you think it's sadder than Nearer my god to thee is beyond me. I can think of songs not even intended to be sad, sadder than this.
Another piece of music that is sad, and undeniably sadder than Gloomy Sunday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhhOQiK8fYI