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Cursed Songs (Gloomy Sunday, Etc.)

I was told about the "Curse" some years ago, before the popularity of You Tube etc. I want to point out its not something I believe in and in fact made a point of borrowing an Enya album with the express purpose of hearing the song! (and Im still here) I don;t know where the shop owner got his information from - as I said I've not heard this rumour before or since. Maybe he was trying to start a UL?
 
I'm reading a book about terrible films at the moment, and when they got to At Long Last Love, the mega-turkey musical of the 1970s, it mentioned that the song it's named after was a cursed song. Supposedly it was written by Cole Porter as he recuperated from the accident which crippled him, and has brought bad luck to all those who performed it since.

Anyone heard of that one? Couldn't see anything in a quick scan of Wikipedia, though the film was so disastrous it could lend credence to the idea.
 
The canonical form of the Cole Porter story is that he worked on the lyrics to "At Long Last Love" while lying injured (thrown and rolled upon by his horse) waiting for someone to find him.

One examination of the story - which led to a conclusion of 'tend to believe it's true' is given at:

http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainmen ... r-a-horse/
 
I 'Marble Halls' on CD, haven't listening to it for years, but I honestly don't recall any particularly bad fortune that didn't have a rational explanation. I will look at the lyrics actually.
 
Marble Halls is actually an old song from an Opera called the Bohemian Girl. Interestingly the Wiki on the song mentions:

It is said to bring bad luck if whistled or sung in a theatre

Link
 
EnolaGaia said:
The canonical form of the Cole Porter story is that he worked on the lyrics to "At Long Last Love" while lying injured (thrown and rolled upon by his horse) waiting for someone to find him.

One examination of the story - which led to a conclusion of 'tend to believe it's true' is given at:

http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainmen ... r-a-horse/

Thanks for that, but all it says is it was likely Porter wrote it when injured, not if it was believed to be cursed. Maybe it was a factoid made up for the book.
 
gncxx said:
Thanks for that, but all it says is it was likely Porter wrote it when injured, not if it was believed to be cursed. Maybe it was a factoid made up for the book.

No - I don't think the curse story was invented for the book. I can find lots of allusions to the song being cursed, but only two specific instances of any negative influence that might be associated with it.

The bit about working on the song while lying injured is the purported origin of the 'curse factor' associated with the song. I presume the first purported influence of this curse factor was the show for which it was written (You Never Know; 1938). This show was, by all accounts, a 'flop' - the first such disappointment after a series of 1930's successes, and a nadir that wasn't repeated with the shows that immediately followed.

The second alleged instance is the 1975 Bogdanovich film, which both included the song and adopted its title. The film was a box office disaster removed from circulation and known primarily by reputation as a legendary flop. This is not surprising, given Bogdanovich's two major blunders in making the film. The first blunder was assuming a mid-1970's American audience would have any interest in a film homage to 1930's musicals. The second blunder was filming the actors (almost none of whom were noted for their singing abilities) singing 'live' (as opposed to studio overdubbing, which had been the standard technique for decades).

In between these two instances a number of successful singers (e.g., Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra) recorded the song with no ill effects.

With the exception of the two instances noted above, I can't find any specific allegations of 'curse effects' associated with the song. However, it's easy to find vague allusions to the song being 'cursed' (typically with reference to Porter's accident, but sometimes with reference to the disastrous film).
 
I'm surprised at the amount of songs that are supposed to have Satanic messages if you play them backwards. Zep's Stairway to Heaven is the most famous one, but check out YouTube and there are a fair few.
 
Sergeant_Pluck said:
I'm surprised at the amount of songs that are supposed to have Satanic messages if you play them backwards. Zep's Stairway to Heaven is the most famous one, but check out YouTube and there are a fair few.

The Judas Priest 'suicide message' trial was tragic but at the same time patently ridiculous. The trial centered around allegations that the band had put backwards messages on their vinyl urging fans to top themselves (bit of a bad move for long term record sales presumably) and two fans had listened to the record backwards and taken the advice.

The trial collapsed after their defense lawyer played the record backwards and pointed out various 'messages' including 'I like Peppermints'.
 
Yeah, tragic story but it was proved in court that the technology wasn't available (at the time) to record a backwards message anyway.

I saw a documentary about it a few years back, one of the lads survived and was interviewed. He was massively disfigured - but then he did put a shotgun under his chin and pulled the trigger :(

Then there was the Ozzy Osbourne case with the boy who shot himself after listening to "Suicide Solution". "Solution" in the song referred to alcohol, not the answer to a problem.....
 
I still can't hear Another One Bites The Dust without muttering 'It's GOOD to SMOKE MARIJUANA!' :lol:
 
Remember the Shamen a few years back, with Ebeneezer Goode - what he was actually saying was 'Es are good'- i.e. Ecstasy is good.
 
Sergeant_Pluck said:
Remember the Shamen a few years back, with Ebeneezer Goode - what he was actually saying was 'Es are good'- i.e. Ecstasy is good.

Classic, and he was right! :lol:
 
Earlier on the thread Marble Halls was mentioned and whilst searching through a Wax Cylinder library online I discovered a 1904 recording of it:

Wax Factor

Very odd hearing the voice of someone from 109 years ago.

Whilst searching I also came across a recording of Harry Houdini from 1914 and oddly despite repeatedly hearing it said by contemporary accounts that his voice was common and very heavily accented, it is neither. Perhaps a reflection on the way that modern speech in public has chnaged if his deliberate and well ennuciated delivery was considerd 'common'.
 
Heckler20 said:
Earlier on the thread Marble Halls was mentioned and whilst searching through a Wax Cylinder library online I discovered a 1904 recording of it:

Wax Factor

Very odd hearing the voice of someone from 109 years ago.

Really needs a dubstep remix. Anyway, after listening to that, has any misfortune befallen you? Or do you need to listen to it in a theatre for the full curse to take effect?
 
garrick92 said:
Sergeant_Pluck said:
Remember the Shamen a few years back

Sorry to break it to you like this, but those 'few years' were actually two decades.

I know, I know. Terrible isn't it.

Ouch :( Well, that's it, i'm old! ;)
 
gncxx said:
Really needs a dubstep remix. Anyway, after listening to that, has any misfortune befallen you? Or do you need to listen to it in a theatre for the full curse to take effect?

I remain as misfortunate as I started, but no new misfortune has befallen me.
 
La forza del destino by Verdi has a curse - apparently.
From Wikipedia:
Forza is an opera that many old school Italian singers felt was "cursed" and brought bad luck.[11] The very superstitious Luciano Pavarotti avoided the part of Alvaro for this reason.

On 4 March 1960 at the Metropolitan Opera, in a performance of La Forza del Destino with Renata Tebaldi and tenor Richard Tucker, the American baritone Leonard Warren was about to launch into the vigorous cabaletta to Don Carlo's Act 3 aria, which begins "Morir, tremenda cosa" ("to die, a momentous thing"). While Rudolf Bing reports that Warren simply went silent and fell face-forward to the floor,[12] others state that he started coughing and gasping, and that he cried out "Help me, help me!" before falling to the floor, remaining motionless. A few minutes later he was pronounced dead of a massive cerebral hemorrhage, and the rest of the performance was canceled. Warren was only 48.

The "Curse" prompted singers and others to do strange things to fend off possible bad luck. The great Italian tenor Franco Corelli was rumored to have held on to his crotch during some of his performances of the opera as "protection."[13] Anthony Stivanello, a well-known Italian director from the 1950s–1980s who also provided sets and costumes to opera companies nationwide insisted that while he had the scenery and costumes for the opera, he would not touch them himself. "Oh, tu che in seno," the tenor's main aria from the opera, was being sung during a concert in Bergen County, NJ, a number of years ago. As the tenor finished the aria, the lights went out in the theater. The power failure was reportedly blamed on a problem in the cemetery across the street.
 
Is the song Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones supposed to be cursed, or at least said to bring bad luck? Whenever the song would come on the car radio, I'd always turn it off to avoid bad luck while driving, and I've met a lot of people who (independently of each other) do the same. I'd heard that Mick Jagger mentioned something about it, after the infamous Altamont concert, that something always happened when they played the song.

I also remember a bit in Hammer of The Gods, where Robert Plant was said to have felt the song The Ocean brought bad luck, or bad karma, to him, in regards to the death of son. (Thinking about it, this may be alluding to the fact the song mentions his daughter, but not his son in the lyrics. But I'm just guessing here)

My hubs is a musician and there are some songs he won't play because he believes they have "bad juju" as he puts it. Voodoo Child (both the Hendrix and the Vaughan versions) and the Doors song that mentions "shooting arrows at the sun"...can't recall the name of it now*. But musicians are a notoriously superstitious lot, like actors, so who knows...

*edited to add - the name of the Doors song is Take It As It Comes and the phrase is "time to aim your arrows at the sun"
 
bunnymousekitt said:
Is the song Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones supposed to be cursed, or at least said to bring bad luck? Whenever the song would come on the car radio, I'd always turn it off to avoid bad luck while driving, and I've met a lot of people who (independently of each other) do the same. I'd heard that Mick Jagger mentioned something about it, after the infamous Altamont concert, that something always happened when they played the song.

It's been a while since I saw Gimme Shelter, but I think it's Under My Thumb that Jagger complains something always happens when they play it. Mind you, the trouble was already well underway by the time the Stones had taken to the stage, so it might have been any or every song they performed that evening if you were superstitious.
 
gncxx said:
It's been a while since I saw Gimme Shelter, but I think it's Under My Thumb that Jagger complains something always happens when they play it. Mind you, the trouble was already well underway by the time the Stones had taken to the stage, so it might have been any or every song they performed that evening if you were superstitious.

Ah. I understand. I've never seen Gimme Shelter, only heard that quote from someone who heard it from someone, and you know how that goes. :p

I suppose in the true sense of a "curse", a song that makes people nervous or brings up negative associations just wouldn't cut it (even if I believe that curses tend to be the products of fear reactions). I mean, lots of women of my age group will quickly shut off the song American Girl in their cars, too, thanks to The Silence of The Lambs, but one would hardly imagine Tom Petty wreaking some sort of supernaturally-induced havoc upon his listeners. :lol: And once upon a time, apparently, Tubular Bells was merely a nice, relaxing prog-rock tune before becoming associated with The Exorcist and henceforth sounding Unspeakably Evil.

That said, after writing my previous post, I was listening to the Doors song my H is nervous of, curious if it sounded sinister. No sooner had it started then a tornado warning went out for the neighborhood. I thought, well, that was fast! :lol:
 
I've always found pretty much the whole Doors repertoire in the Jim Morrison period spooky and doom-laden. I suppose 'the End' and 'Unknown Soldier' pretty much set the tone for me. I don't think I'd listen to anything of theirs while driving or trying to have a good time.

But as music to be miserable to - there are times when you want to be, you know - its pretty much unbeatable.

Glad I've never watched 'Silence of the Lambs' - I like 'American Girl'. Sounds like its best if I don't play it to any prospective new lady friend, though. See the valuable information you can glean from this board?

Did once play 'Tubular Bells' very loudly from speakers on top of a Transit van on an old Roman road high up in the Welsh mountains in an early-morning mist - don't think the curse can be very strong, there was no Pratchett-esque bolt of lightning and we were pretty much begging for one. I have occasionally wondered if anyone else heard us and if so they thought they were having an aural hallucination.
 
Cochise said:
I've always found pretty much the whole Doors repertoire in the Jim Morrison period spooky and doom-laden. I suppose 'the End' and 'Unknown Soldier' pretty much set the tone for me. I don't think I'd listen to anything of theirs while driving or trying to have a good time.

Indeed. they always gave me the creeps...

But as music to be miserable to - there are times when you want to be, you know - its pretty much unbeatable.

True, true.

Glad I've never watched 'Silence of the Lambs' - I like 'American Girl'. Sounds like its best if I don't play it to any prospective new lady friend, though. See the valuable information you can glean from this board?

Also, avoid asking about her dress size in an eerie voice while she helps to load your van...:lol:

Did once play 'Tubular Bells' very loudly from speakers on top of a Transit van on an old Roman road high up in the Welsh mountains in an early-morning mist - don't think the curse can be very strong, there was no Pratchett-esque bolt of lightning and we were pretty much begging for one. I have occasionally wondered if anyone else heard us and if so they thought they were having an aural hallucination.

I would have run at top speed to the next mountain if I'd heard that! :shock:
 
It's possible this subject has been covered elsewhere but I cant find it so here goes:
Some time ago, I was in a small local second hand record shop hunting for stuff by Clannad. The shop owner produced a small selection all of which I already had. He told me he'd had an Enya album in recently (making the connection that Enya used to be in Clannad) but it had gone and he was glad of it as it "Had that song on, you know, the cursed one: Marble Halls?"
Not being a Enya fan particularly I was unfamiliar with the song which apparantly carried a curse and brought ill fortune to all who listened to it.
I've not heard of that particular curse before or since but wondered if anyone else has heard of a similar legend about that or any other song (apart from the well known "Gloomy Sunday")?
This reminds me of a great book i read by the author chuck palahniuk called 'lullaby' about a lullaby (no suprise there) which is actually a culling song used by tribes people in times of hardship or famine to hymainely cull their child population, i highly recommend this book and his back catalogue of works.
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It's possible this subject has been covered elsewhere but I cant find it so here goes:
Some time ago, I was in a small local second hand record shop hunting for stuff by Clannad. The shop owner produced a small selection all of which I already had. He told me he'd had an Enya album in recently (making the connection that Enya used to be in Clannad) but it had gone and he was glad of it as it "Had that song on, you know, the cursed one: Marble Halls?"
Not being a Enya fan particularly I was unfamiliar with the song which apparantly carried a curse and brought ill fortune to all who listened to it.
I've not heard of that particular curse before or since but wondered if anyone else has heard of a similar legend about that or any other song (apart from the well known "Gloomy Sunday")?

I love that song. I remember playing the album (on tape!) one Sunday morning as a teenager, and my dad putting his head round the door and telling me he used to sing that song at school. I've certainly never heard of it being associated with a curse.
 
There was an article in Fortean Times about how My Way tends to cause trouble and has been banned from a number of karaoke bars.
 
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