Recently, when I was conversing with one of my more musically attuned friends at uni, she had told me about 'Gloomy Sunday', which was originally a Hungarian song, but which had later been translated into English as well.
It was composed by the otherwise unknown composer, Rezso Seress. The reason why this song gained so much popularity was because hundreds of people had committed suicide right after listening to this song. Well, no, the song is not ill-fated like a lot of people would like to believe. It had been published during The Hungarian Depression, during which time a lot of people were already depressed and suicidal. This song, with all its melancholy melody and lyrics, I suppose, had pushed them over the edge and made them take their own lives.
So the first thing I did was, obviously, listen to it.
Well, I did NOT commit suicide, so it is definitely not a 'cursed' song or whatever.
However, it did leave me in a very unhappy state. I don't know what it is that made this song so sad; was it the needle scratching against the vinyl that made me nostalgic about a person I've never met? Maybe just the mere idea of someone suffering so much?
If you think about it, it's not the lyrics as much as it is the music, and the singer who sings it, that have made it sound so spiritless and depressing.
Why, though? Why does music have the ability to tug our heartstrings so much? I mean, who gave it permission?
I could go on and on like the countless before me who have romanticized music in all its glory, but I will not.
I think just being able to appreciate each music piece as I listen to it is the best form of romanticizing. Stop talking, stop writing, and just listen. Listen to each letter in every word and each note in every line.
That, I think, is the right way of truly appreciating music. Let each one of us just listen and walk away in silence, lost in our thoughts about what a piece means. Sometimes, it does that to you; music leaves you in a meditative state.
Well, no more romanticizing, I swear.
It was composed by the otherwise unknown composer, Rezso Seress. The reason why this song gained so much popularity was because hundreds of people had committed suicide right after listening to this song. Well, no, the song is not ill-fated like a lot of people would like to believe. It had been published during The Hungarian Depression, during which time a lot of people were already depressed and suicidal. This song, with all its melancholy melody and lyrics, I suppose, had pushed them over the edge and made them take their own lives.
So the first thing I did was, obviously, listen to it.
Well, I did NOT commit suicide, so it is definitely not a 'cursed' song or whatever.
However, it did leave me in a very unhappy state. I don't know what it is that made this song so sad; was it the needle scratching against the vinyl that made me nostalgic about a person I've never met? Maybe just the mere idea of someone suffering so much?
If you think about it, it's not the lyrics as much as it is the music, and the singer who sings it, that have made it sound so spiritless and depressing.
Why, though? Why does music have the ability to tug our heartstrings so much? I mean, who gave it permission?
I could go on and on like the countless before me who have romanticized music in all its glory, but I will not.
I think just being able to appreciate each music piece as I listen to it is the best form of romanticizing. Stop talking, stop writing, and just listen. Listen to each letter in every word and each note in every line.
That, I think, is the right way of truly appreciating music. Let each one of us just listen and walk away in silence, lost in our thoughts about what a piece means. Sometimes, it does that to you; music leaves you in a meditative state.
Well, no more romanticizing, I swear.
No comments:
Post a Comment