Not Too "Gloomy Sunday" for the Proud Flip

The song Gloomy Sunday gained the consciousness of the Filipinos (including me) when this was featured in a TV show "Knowledge Power" hosted by Ernie Baron. That episode aroused my interest to listen to that controversial "suicide" song, which, according to some, has depressing melody coupled by melancholic lyrics (sorry, can't publish the lyrics here; check the net if you want to read them, at your own risk). Don't get me wrong; I'm not that desperate to end my life because it's still a bed of roses for me, it's just that I wanted to study the song and challenge myself to know its effect on my behavior. In the first place, I'm not a psychology grad for nothing; secondly, I'm a music lover and a choral afficionado.

Luckily (or unluckily), I was able to surf this composition by Hungarians Reszo Seress, for the music, and Laszlo Javor, for the lyrics (Seress made the song after his girlfriend left him). The song is originally Hungarian; the English lyrics were penned by Sam M. Lewis and Desmond Carter, the version of the former is well-known. So far, I have listened to different versions of some singers like Billie Holiday (what's trivial to me is that hers is the most popular English version), Sinead O'Connor, Marianne Faithfull, and Sarah Brightman, only a few of many versions.

I discovered the reasons why the version of Holiday is more popular (or, should I say "effective" to those with such tendencies) compared to the other three, taking into consideration the interpretation and musical arrangement. Holiday's voice is so powerful you can feel the longing for someone's love and her hopelessness, it must be on her expressive singing style; she didn't believe in straight singing (or singing according to the piece's rhythm). Another thing is that the orchestral background is like a musical score for a suicide scene, particularly the intro, between the first and second verse, and the ending. Although the song has modulation to G-major, it is still not that uplifting (By the way, the original version doesn't have the third verse and it was only added to uplift the defeatist theme).

The versions of O'Connor and Brightman are more optimistic. Their voice qualities are both light and airy (O'Connor's version for me is more refreshing), not as depressing as Holiday's, and the arrangement is not as horrifying as the 1941 version. In fact, in Brightman's version, the percussion is more lively to give a moving yet intense impression and the song transposed to A minor in the middle of the third verse, to make it less pessimistic. Faithfull's interpretation, the one I like the least among the four, is in C minor. Although it is equally melancholic as Holiday's, the version somewhat reminded me of one of the sad songs of the puppets on Sesame Street, perhaps because of her diction.

I should say that, like many Filipinos, this song did not leave a lethal impression on me. This is due to the fact that Filipinos have close family ties, that's why the Flips have somebody to breathe out their depression to. Not to mention some sorrowful kundimans (Filipino classic love songs) that are part of the culture of the Flips and making them immune to agonizing tendencies. And for this, we have one of the lowest suicidal rate in the world (Hurrah!), in contrast with the country where the song originated, which has the highest suicidal rate, not because of the "deadly" song, but because of their "gloomy" culture that probably shaped the said music. Although, I would suggest that you should not listen to this music ALONE.

So, for the Pinoys, sundays are not always gloomy. After all, with the frivolous culture, the Flips have the power to make gloomy sundays groovy, don't you think?

Ciao!