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Danny Boy

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"Danny Boy" is a folk song with lyrics written by English lawyer Frederic Weatherly in 1910, and set to the traditional Irish melody of "Londonderry Air" in 1913.

HistoryEdit

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File:Danny Boy Glenn Miller 78 10612.jpg
1940 recording by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on RCA Bluebird, B-10612-B

In 1910, in Bath, Somerset, England, the English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly initially wrote the words of "Danny Boy" to a tune other than "Londonderry Air". One story is that his sister-in-law Margaret Enright Weatherly (known as "Jess") sent him a copy of "Londonderry Air" in 1913, and Weatherly modified the lyrics of "Danny Boy" to fit its rhyme and meter.<ref name="Sister">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>In Sunshine And In Shadow: The family story of Danny Boy by Anthony Mann (Weatherly's great grandson) Template:ISBN</ref> A different story has Jess singing the air to Weatherly in 1912 with different lyrics. Yet another story is that Frederic did not set the poem to any tune, but that, in 1913, Margaret, who, with her husband Edward Weatherly, was living at the Neosho mine near Ouray, Colorado, in the US, set it to the "Londonderry Air", which she had heard as a child in California played by her father and other Irish railway workers.<ref name="CPR31622">Template:Cite news</ref>

Weatherly gave the song to the vocalist Elsie Griffin, who made it one of the most popular songs of the new century. Ernestine Schumann-Heink produced the first recording of "Danny Boy" in 1915.

Jane Ross of Limavady is credited with collecting the melody of "Londonderry Air" in the mid-19th century from a musician she encountered.<ref>George Petrie: The Ancient Music of Ireland, 1855</ref>

LyricsEdit

The 1913 lyrics by Frederic E. Weatherly:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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MeaningEdit

There are various conjectures about the meaning of "Danny Boy".<ref name=standing>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Some interpret the song to be a message from a parent to a son going off to war.

The 1918 version of the sheet music with Weatherly's printed signature included alternative lyrics ("Eily Dear"), with the instructions that "when sung by a man, the words in italic should be used; the song then becomes "Eily Dear", so that "Danny Boy" is only to be sung by a lady". Nonetheless, it is unclear whether this was Weatherly's intent,<ref name=McCourt2005>Template:Cite book</ref> and it is common practice for exactly the same lyrics to be used when sung by both women and men.

UsageEdit

  • Percy Grainger's "Irish Tune from County Derry" adapted the "Danny Boy/Londonderry Air" melody for wind ensemble in 1918.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • The song is popular for funerals, but the National Catholic Reporter wrote in 2001 that it "cannot be played during Mass."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Select recordingsEdit

"Danny Boy" has been recorded many times by a variety of performers. Several versions are listed below in chronological order.

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Arranged by Glenn Miller and pianist Chummy MacGregor.

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  • 1950 Al Hibbler released a single that rose to No. 9 on the US R&B chart.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1957 Harry Belafonte sang the song live on the album "An Evening with Harry Belafonte", where he began the song with a spoken recitative, before singing the two verses. He repeated the second half of the first verse the second time around. The recitative goes:

    The Time, a time of strife. The Place, the place is Ireland. And as Irish legend had it, as the last rose of Summer fell, and all the young men of Ireland were to gather to strike a blow For Ireland's Freedom and Ireland's Liberty, There were songs for those who stayed at home, and songs for those who went away, and all of Ireland was sad.

    Belafonte modified the lyrics in significant ways. At the end of the first set of lyrics, he changed "I love you so" to "I'll miss you so" His changes to the second set of lyrics were more substantial: "But if you fall as all the flowers are dying; and you are dead as dead you well may be; I'll come and find the place where you are lying; and kneel and pray and Ave there for thee." He then repeats the second half of the first set of lyrics as noted above, starting with "But come ye back . . ." and this time finishes it with "I love you so." These changes made it more explicitly an anti-war message.
  • 1958 Paul Robeson released a version.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1965 Jackie Wilson's version rose to No. 94 on the Hot 100 and No. 25 on the US R&B charts.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1967 Ray Price's single hit No. 60 on the Hot 100 and No. 9 on the Country charts in the US.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1994 Roger Whittaker, as the title track of a CD Danny Boy and other Irish favorites
  • 1997 Riot recorded an instrumental version in their "Inishmore Trilogy" closing the namesake Inishmore album
  • 1998 Charlotte Church released the album Voice of an Angel by Sony Classical Records.
  • 1998 Sinéad O'Connor sang the song over Davy Spillane's uilleann pipes on Spillane's album The Sea of Dreams. This rendition has the added verse from the 1993 Christmas acapella as well as another added verse which goes "And I will take your pike and place my dearest. And strike a blow, though weak the blow may be. Twill help the cause, to which your heart was nearest. Oh, Danny boy, oh, Danny boy, I love you so."<ref name="DSpillane98">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Actor-filmmaker Gabriel Byrne said this version is his favourite.<ref name=McCourt2005/>

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  • 2007 Hayley Westenra recorded the song as a track for her album entitled Treasure.
  • 2017 Emmet Cahill, an Irish tenor, released the song in his solo 2017 album Ireland<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> while part of the band Celtic Thunder.

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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