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Re: two different lyrics for "Gloomy Sunday"?
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teams...@gmail.com
Oct 13, 2015, 3:42:39 PM10/13/15
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-From what I can gather...as this song has been of some interest to me for a good period of time...there were actually four sets of lyrics associated to the song before the Diamanda Galas version was made. Diamond Galas' performance is directly based on the lyrics made by Desmond Carter. The original lyrics were made by the original composer of the song, Rezso Seress. His lyrics had nothing to do with suicide and were in fact a political statement about the despairs associated with war and how it had left his native country (Hungary) in shambles. The song was titled "Vége a világnak" (or "The World is Ending" in English). These are his lyrics when translated:
"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 come to its end, hope has ceased to have a 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!"
-Later, poet Laszlo Javor rewrote the lyrics to the melody and crafted a story about a man who's lover had committed suicide with the narrator wanting to join his love in death. The title of this version was called "Szomorú vasárnap" (or "Sad Sunday" in English). The translation of Javor's lyrics are as follows:
"Gloomy Sunday with a hundred white flowers
I was waiting for you my dearest with a prayer
A Sunday morning, chasing after my dreams
The carriage of my sorrow returned to me without you
It is since then that my Sundays have been forever sad
Tears my only drink, the sorrow my bread...
Gloomy Sunday
This last Sunday, my darling please come to me
There'll be a priest, a coffin, a catafalque and a winding-sheet
There'll be flowers for you, flowers and a coffin
Under the blossoming trees it will be my last journey
My eyes will be open, so that I could see you for a last time
Don't be afraid of my eyes, I'm blessing you even in my death...
The last Sunday"
-After gaining notoriety for the context of the song, people were eager to make an English version of it. Hal Kemp was the first to record such a version in 1936 with lyrics written by Sam M. Lewis, which is the version that Billie Holiday would make famous and go as follows:
"Sunday is gloomy, my hours are slumberless
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
Angels have no thought of ever returning you
Would they be angry if I thought of joining you?
Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy is Sunday, with shadows I spend it all
My heart and I have decided to end it all
Soon there'll be candles and prayers that are sad I know
Let them not weep let them know that I'm glad to go
Death is no dream for in death I'm caressing you
With the last breath of my soul I'll be blessing you
Gloomy Sunday
Dreaming, I was only dreaming
I wake and I find you asleep in the deep of my heart, here
Darling, I hope that my dream never haunted you
My heart is telling you how much I wanted you
Gloomy Sunday"
-In that same year, another English version was recorded and, again, new lyrics were attributed to the melody. This version was recorded by Paul Robeson and featured the lyrics written by Desmond Carter, which is the version Diamanda Galas chose to perform. The lyrics are as follows:
"Sadly one Sunday I waited and waited
With flowers in my arms for the dream I'd created
I waited 'til dreams, like my heart, were all broken
The flowers were all dead and the words were unspoken
The grief that I knew was beyond all consoling
The beat of my heart was a bell that was tolling
Saddest of Sundays
Then came a Sunday when you came to find me
They bore me to church and I left you behind me
My eyes could not see one I wanted to love me
The earth and the flowers are forever above me
The bell tolled for me and the wind whispered, "Never!"
But you I have loved and I bless you forever
Last of all Sundays"
I hope this has helped you for a better understanding of the song's history. It is hauntingly beautiful and one of my favorites.
-Teamshlayer
"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 come to its end, hope has ceased to have a 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!"
-Later, poet Laszlo Javor rewrote the lyrics to the melody and crafted a story about a man who's lover had committed suicide with the narrator wanting to join his love in death. The title of this version was called "Szomorú vasárnap" (or "Sad Sunday" in English). The translation of Javor's lyrics are as follows:
"Gloomy Sunday with a hundred white flowers
I was waiting for you my dearest with a prayer
A Sunday morning, chasing after my dreams
The carriage of my sorrow returned to me without you
It is since then that my Sundays have been forever sad
Tears my only drink, the sorrow my bread...
Gloomy Sunday
This last Sunday, my darling please come to me
There'll be a priest, a coffin, a catafalque and a winding-sheet
There'll be flowers for you, flowers and a coffin
Under the blossoming trees it will be my last journey
My eyes will be open, so that I could see you for a last time
Don't be afraid of my eyes, I'm blessing you even in my death...
The last Sunday"
-After gaining notoriety for the context of the song, people were eager to make an English version of it. Hal Kemp was the first to record such a version in 1936 with lyrics written by Sam M. Lewis, which is the version that Billie Holiday would make famous and go as follows:
"Sunday is gloomy, my hours are slumberless
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
Angels have no thought of ever returning you
Would they be angry if I thought of joining you?
Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy is Sunday, with shadows I spend it all
My heart and I have decided to end it all
Soon there'll be candles and prayers that are sad I know
Let them not weep let them know that I'm glad to go
Death is no dream for in death I'm caressing you
With the last breath of my soul I'll be blessing you
Gloomy Sunday
Dreaming, I was only dreaming
I wake and I find you asleep in the deep of my heart, here
Darling, I hope that my dream never haunted you
My heart is telling you how much I wanted you
Gloomy Sunday"
-In that same year, another English version was recorded and, again, new lyrics were attributed to the melody. This version was recorded by Paul Robeson and featured the lyrics written by Desmond Carter, which is the version Diamanda Galas chose to perform. The lyrics are as follows:
"Sadly one Sunday I waited and waited
With flowers in my arms for the dream I'd created
I waited 'til dreams, like my heart, were all broken
The flowers were all dead and the words were unspoken
The grief that I knew was beyond all consoling
The beat of my heart was a bell that was tolling
Saddest of Sundays
Then came a Sunday when you came to find me
They bore me to church and I left you behind me
My eyes could not see one I wanted to love me
The earth and the flowers are forever above me
The bell tolled for me and the wind whispered, "Never!"
But you I have loved and I bless you forever
Last of all Sundays"
I hope this has helped you for a better understanding of the song's history. It is hauntingly beautiful and one of my favorites.
-Teamshlayer
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