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Late Nights with Nexpo

The Deadliest Song

Late Nights with Nexpo

Ballen Studios

True Crime

4.7801 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Can a song kill you? In the 1930s, Gloomy Sunday was accused of doing just that — sparking a global panic and a wave of government bans on the song. But what is the truth behind the so-called Hungarian Suicide Song?

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Wonderly Plus subscribers can listen to new episodes of Late Nights with Nextpo early and ad-free right now.

0:06.8

Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

0:12.0

The record feels perfectly normal in your hands.

0:16.3

A black vinyl disc about the size of a dinner plate.

0:20.5

But when you set it on the turntable and the needle begins tracing the grooves, the music

0:25.6

is curiously overwhelming.

0:28.6

Music has never made you cry in the past. You're just not that type of person.

0:35.6

And yet there's a melancholy quality to this song that is so pure, so effective, that tears immediately rise in your eyes.

0:46.0

A lump in your throat.

0:48.3

The pain of the world almost seems reflected in the melody.

0:55.0

Suddenly, you feel the urge to rise from your chair and cross to the window of your high-rise apartment.

1:02.0

But you resist. You were warned that this song has a power unlike any other.

1:09.0

In fact, for nearly a century, it's been banned by broadcasters across the world.

1:14.6

Authorities have made desperate attempts to suppress the publication of its sheet music.

1:20.6

Because when this song plays, people inexplicably die. Dye.

1:28.3

The The year is 1932.

1:57.8

It's raining in Paris.

2:00.0

Laslo Yabar is taking a walk. He's an aspiring poet from

2:05.7

Budapest struggling to make a living in post-war France. He had thought the life of an artist would

2:12.1

be easier in the city of love. But the only thing he found was a larger community of struggling artists. And now,

2:20.6

after the love of his life left him, all he has are the gloomy streets of Paris. It's a quiet,

2:28.5

wet morning. Most Parisians are clustered indoors. The buildings loom above him like melancholy tombstones as he walks.

...

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