There is arguably no song more dear to the Irish than “Danny Boy.” Its sweet poignancy, its delicate strains bring a tear to the eye and a catch in the voice of all who sing it. It brings visions of a mother’s parting from a dear lad, a father’s difficult good-bye to his son, a lover’s parting in time of war. This air can be made any and all of these. It is an incredible piece of music which can be heard in pubs and in churches, at parades and wakes, by choirs and soldiers. To the expatriate Irish, it has become an unofficial anthem to the home country left behind, the home of their fathers, Mother Ireland. It is sung wherever people of Irish blood gather, and it is said that all people become Irish when that song is crooned.
This writer is here to guarantee you, “Danny Boy” is never sung more sweetly, with more emotion, care, and purity than when Anthony Kearns sings it. It becomes in his hands a hymn to his home, his native land. It becomes not just a song, but an experience.
Mr. Kearns has often said, “This is the song that got me into this crazy business.” We’re grateful it did, for once heard, the heart yearns for it again and again.
This piece of music has a convoluted, confusing, and very surprising past! I won’t take the time to detail it all, but I’ll leave links below if you are interested in further investigation.
The popular lyric of “Danny Boy” was written by an Englishman, Fredrick Weatherly, in 1910. It was an unsuccessful undertaking, for the music he attached to it simply didn’t sell. The music currently thought of as “Danny Boy” has a longer story.
It is thought to have been music for the harp from as far back as the early 1600s. Edward Bunting was a collector of harp music and he can be credited for rescuing the traditional harp music of Ireland. “A Young Man’s Dream” is one such piece discussed by Bunting in his “A Collection of the Ancient Irish Music,” 1796, and seems to be quite close to the musicality of “Danny Boy.”
This melody, although untitled, seems to have made its appearance again in 1855 in a book by Percy Grainger, “Ancient Music of Ireland.” Then a Miss Jane Ross from Limavady, County Londonderry, copied it down from the music of an itinerant piper in her area. Hence the name she gave to it: “Londonderry Air.” Of course, in those times, Londonderry had unpopular political connotations, and so it was also called the “Derry Air.” In Australia, it was usually called “The Air from County Derry.”
Fast forward a bit to 1912. Frederic Weatherly’s brother had given up his medical practice and moved to San Francisco. He met and married an American and then followed the gold rush to Ouray, a beautiful little spot in the high Rocky Mountains of Colorado. There the miners made their own music from their own countries. There was a large mining population in Colorado from Australia. And there, Mrs. Weatherly heard these Australians playing “The Air from County Derry.” She sent this beautiful music to her brother-in-law in London who immediately saw how it would fit so perfectly with his “Danny Boy.” He published a new version of “Danny Boy” in 1913, the one we all love. It is believed that Mr. Weatherly never set foot in Ireland, nor had any interest in Irish music at all.
Ironic isn’t it, that this incredible piece of music, penned by an Englishman, and whose melodious origins are so in question, has become the unofficial anthem of Ireland, or at least, of the Irish expatriates the world over!
For more in depth reading about “Danny Boy,” please click on the links below.
Danny Boy
Part 2
Part 3
HOME
Irish Music Index