Merrill Womach is an American undertaker, organist and gospel singer, notable both for founding National Music Service,  a company which provides recorded music to funeral homes across America, and for surviving a plane crash that left him disfigured with third degree burns over most of his body. In his office is a crucifix made from the plane’s wreckage

I’m a sucker for an inspirational story of a man beating the odds, of overcoming insurmountable obstacles, a story of survival. My tears are easily jerked. Merrill Womach is my kind of hero, really. So, the melancholic nature of this video, seemingly totally at odds with its intent, strikes me as being, well, sad.

In this footage from the ‘70s, Merrill sings the ostensibly uplifting Happy Again to a room full of hospital burn patients. The song doesn’t seem to be having the desired effect. The depressed patients look like they’re seriously considering hurling themselves out of the hospital windows.