Hungarian Noir: A Tribute to the Gloomy Sunday

Thankfully the song ‘Gloomy Sunday’ does not directly cause people to commit suicide. Otherwise I would be 12 times deceased by now, having just listened to that many versions of the same song on this concept compilation from Piranha Records. Nevertheless, since Hungarian Rezső Seress penned the original ‘Szomorú Vasárnap’ in 1933, subsequent recordings have been linked to suicides in Hungary and the wider world. The song has been covered countless times, by everyone from Ray Charles to Björk, gaining an almost mythic notoriety along the way and occasionally capturing the essence of that most desperate of human acts. In an ironic reversal of circumstances, the negative thing about some of the versions in this collection is that they make me want to dance rather than kill myself. If that's your thing, though, then go for it. There are some real gems, such as Kayah's Polish rendition and an instrumental from Cimbalomduó, while a couple of others are eerily reminiscent of library music. Included as bonus tracks are the legendary Billie Holiday version and the first recording of ‘Gloomy Sunday’, by Pál Kalmár – still the most heartfelt songs on this album.