Gloomy Sunday

There's a bizarre story attached to "Gloomy Sunday," the mournful tune made famous in the U.S. by both Artie Shaw and Billie Holiday in the early 1940s. Originally titled "Szormoru vasarnap," it was written in 1933 by an obscure Hungarian composer named Rezso Seress (Seress's original lyrics were later replaced by those of his countryman, poet Laszlo Javor). The song initially met with little interest, but a strange rumor began to circulate around Budapest that soon boosted its profile. It was reported that shortly after listening to the melancholy song, a number of people committed suicide; it was even whispered that Javor's lyrics had made their way into their suic...