From glen to glen and down the mountain side
The summer’s gone and all the flowers are dying
It’s you, it’s you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow
It’s I’ll be there in sunshine or in shadow
Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so!
And if ye come, and all the flow’rs are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
Ye’ll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an Ave there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be For
For you will bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.
Appendix
Discography and Time Line
THE INCOMPLETE DISCOGRAPHY
It would be a cumbersome task to list every rendition of “Danny Boy” ever recorded because so many artists have performed the song over the years. Freddie Mercury of Queen used to sing it in the 1970s to exuberant crowds whenever the band toured Ireland. Sinead O’Connor did a version of the ballad that was arranged by Sean Davies and Eric Clapton performed a breathtaking instrumental rendition. Movies have even been known to turn to “Danny Boy” to help deliver an emotionally touching moment from time to time. Brassed Off and Family Business are two such films.
Elvis Presley liked to sing the song leisurely, but struggled with the high notes and never attempted a recording. But toward the very end of his career, RCA arranged to record Elvis, and after ten takes and singing in a lower key, the King finally produced a version he was happy with. The song was included on the 1976 album, “From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee.”
Danny Boy Discography
Odyssey Of Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Vanguard Classics
Kate Smith
Kate Smith
BMG
Golden Greats
Glenn Miller
BMG
Volume 1, Songs of Old Ireland
Melody Greenwood
PMF Records
Golden Celebration—Elvis 50th
Elvis Presley
BMG/RCA
Off To Philadelphia
Frances Lucey
Amati
Best of Ireland
Bing Crosby
Madacy Records
Irish Dance
Va-celtic Pride
Riverdance
Requestfully Yours
Flamingos
Westside (UK) DNA
It’s Only Make Believe
Conway Twitty
Music Club
Live at Harrah’s
Glenn Yarborough
Folk Era
Shine On
Riot
Metal Blade
Our Point Of View
New Coon Creek Girls
Pinecastle
Best of Lonely Guitar
Duane Eddy
One Way Records
This Is Jazz No. 33
Tony Bennett
Sony/Columbia
The Toast
Memphis Belle
Modine, Stoltz, Donovan, Sweeney
Warner Studios
Tom Jones
Tom Jones
Gold Sound (Italy)
1946–1947
Count & His Orchestra Basie
Jazz Chronological Classics
“Danny Boy”
Rufus Wainwright
Uni/Dream Works Records
A & E Biography
Judy Garland
EMD/Capitol
Super Sellers of The 50’s
Conway Twitty
Super Doubles
The Sea of Dreams
Davy Spillane-featuring Sinead O’Connor
Covert
“Concord Jazz Heritage Series”
Herb Ellis
Concord Jazz
“Danny Boy–1955”
Memories Of You
Rosemary Clooney
“Le Mor Ghra–with Lots Of Love”
Jimmy O’byrne
Rego Irish
“I Remember You”
Ben Wilmot
Orchard
“Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte/Gentle on My Mind”
Patti Page
Collectables Records
Ireland’s Greatest Love Songs
Josef Locke
Sounds Of Ireland (UK)
“He’s So Fine/Lonely Teardrops”
Jackie Wilson
Diablo (UK)
“Titan Of Soul”
Jackie Wilson
Demon Duplicate Numbers (UK)
Judy
Judy Garland
32 Records
“London Donnie (Danny Boy)”
1946
Don Byas
Jazz Chronological Classics
Greatest Hits
Jackie Wilson
Brunswick
“Londonderry Aire (Danny Boy)”
Celtic Harpestry
Deborah Henson-Conant
Uni/Imaginary Road
“In the Mood”
Glenn Miller
Cleopatra
Ireland in Song
Frank Patterson
BMG/RCA Victor
Live at the Apollo
Patti & Blue Belles Labelle
Blue Moon (UK)
Best of Early Years
Patti & Blue Belles Labelle
Uni/Hip-o Records
Irish Melodies
Leo Mccaffrey
Compose
“Tears of Stone”
Chieftains
BMG/RCA Victor
In the Glenn Miller Mood
Airmen Of Note
Altissimo
“Best of Bronn Journey”
Bronn Journey
Revere
Love Songs & Ballads
Tom Jones
32 Jazz Records
“Down by the Glenside”
Sheila Ryan
Orchard
“Lucky”
Terry Clarke
Appaloosa
Ultimate Collection
Mario Lanza
MSI
“You Take My Breath Away” (with Danny Boy)
Danny’s Island
Danny Lerman
Chartmaker
Greatest Hits
J.J. Sheridan
Trigon
Vol. 2–in The Vaults
Ventures
Ace (UK)
“Double Duke”
Joe Temperley
Naxos Jazz
“Day-O”
Harry Belafonte
MSI”
“Come By Me”
Harry Connick Jr.
Sony/Columbia
Irish Standards
Roger Whittaker
BMG Special Products
Great Irish Tenors
Robert White
BMG/RCA Victor
British & Irish Pub Songs
Paddy Band Macnamara
Goldies
“Medley-Sugar Sugar/Everything Is Beautiful/Bridge Over Troubled Water/Danny Boy”
Neil Sedaka Sings The Hits
Neil Sedaka
BMG/RCA
“Time Remembered”
Bill Evans Trio
Fantasy/Milestone
Irish Celebration
Paddy Noonan
Compose
America’s Favorite Irish Tenor
Dennis Day
Star Line I
“Here’s to the Irish”
Leo McCaffrey
Madacy Records
“Celtic Tranquility”
Phil Coulter
Erin
“It Might as Well be the Moon”
Mickey Newbury
Mountain Retreat
Al Hirt
Collectables Records
“Londonderry Air (Danny Boy) Magic Of Celtic Harp”
Claire Hamilton
Premium Music Collection
California Sun–Best of the Rivieras
Rivieras
Norton
“Barbar’s Lament”
Eddie Dillon
Orchard
“Moody Blue”
Elvis Presley
BMG/RCA
Decca Years 1962–72
Bachelors
Pid
“Danny Boy”
John McDermott
MSI
“Unsung Blues Legend”
Lonnie Johnson
Blues Magnet
“Memories Are Made of This”
Ruby Murray
PID
Classic Ballads
Tom Jones
PID
“Heart to Heart”
Betty Buckley
KO Productions
Live at Wolf Trap
Judy Collins
Wildflower
Songs I Love to Play
Johnny Carroll
Our Heritage
“Counting Teardrops”
Emile Ford
Castle Music America
“Empathy/Simple Matter”
Bill Evans
Uni/Verve
16 Biggest Hits
Ray Price
Sony/Epic
“Ellis Island”
Irish Tenors
Music Matters
You’ll Never Walk Alone
Original Blind Boys Of Alabama
Collectables Records
Andy Williams Live
Andy Williams
Concord/Neon Tonic
Golden Years: 1938–42
Glenn Miller
Proper Records
“Windflower”
Herb Ellis
Concord Jazz
“In New York City”
Scott Hamilton
Concord Jazz
“Demi Centennial”
Rosemary Clooney
Concord Jazz
“Ballad for Americans”
Paul Robeson
Vanguard
Best of Boxcar Willie
Boxcar Willie
Madacy Records
Man In Black 1963–69
Johnny Cash
Bear Family Records
“Welcome to My World”
Jim Reeves
Bear Family
“Please Help Me I’m Falling”
Hank Locklin
Bear Family Records
Rose Marie–His Recordings 1949
Slim Whitman
Bear Family Records
Locust Years . . . And the Return to the Promised Land
Jerry Lee Lewis
Bear Family Records
Kissin, Twistin, Goin, Where the Boys Are
Connie Francis
Bear Family Records
Honky Tonk Years 1950–66
Ray Price & the Cherokee Cowboys
Bear Family Records
“Irish Nightingale”
Morton Downey
Asv Living Era
“Dream of Erin”
Timmy Flaherty
Hot Records
20 Greatest Hits
Johnny Paycheck
Deluxe
Great Mahalia Jackson
Sony/Columbia
16 Most Requested Songs
Andy Williams
Sony/Columbia
Global Masters
Johnny Mathis
Sony/Columbia
“Diamonds & Rust”
Joan Baez
Uni/A & M
Papa John Creach
Papa John Creach
One Way Records
“My Romance”
Carly Simon
BMG/Arista
From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee
Elvis Presley
BMG/RCA
Home of the Brave
Black 47
My Favorite Irish Songs
Bing Crosby
MCA
“Voice of an Angel”
Charlotte Church
Sony Classics
TIMELINE
6000 B.C.. The first human settlements in Ireland.
600–150 B.C. Gaels from western Europe invaded Ireland and subdued the previous inhabitants.
250 B.C. Laigin from Armorica in northwestern France arrived in southeast Ireland.
50 A.D. Gaeil or Goidets migrate from Europe to the Kenmare River in south Kerry and the Boyne estuary near Drogheda.
600 St. Brendan of Kerry is said to have sailed to North America (not proven).
795 Vikings land near St. Columcille’s monastery on Lambay Island.
800–850 Norwegian Vikings plunder many Irish monasteries. In 845, Thorgils, king of the Norsemen in Ireland, is captured and killed by Maelseachlainn, king of Meath.
853 Danish fleet defeats the Norwegians and takes possession of Dublin.
1507 Accession of Henry VIII.
1515 Anarchy in Ireland.
1534 Kildare rebellion.
1547–1549 Henry VIII made his great breach with Rome, and set himself up as the head of the Church of England.
1548 Henry VIII declares himself king of Ireland.
1548 Henry VIII dies and is succeeded by the boy king Edward VI.
1577 Mary ascends the throne.
1558 Accession of Elizabeth I.
1577 Elizabethan wars in Ireland.
1577 Spanish Armada sent by Phillip of Spain to conquer England.
1594 Accession of James 1. Surrender of Hugh O’Neill. Enforcement of English Law in Ireland.
1595 Rebellion of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.
1601 Defeat of O’Neill, O’Donnell and Spaniards by Mountjoy at Battle of Kinsale.
1632–38 Compilation of the Annals of the Four Masters.
1641 Great Catholic-Gaelic rebellion for return of lands, later joined by Old English Catholic in Ireland. Under leadership of Irish chieftain, Rory O’Moore, conspiracy was formed to seize Dublin and expel the English. English settlers were driven out of Ulster. Catholics hold 59% of land in Ireland.
1642 Confederation of Kilkenny met.
1647 Alliance between lords of Pale and native Irishmen came to an end.
1648 English soldier and statesman, Oliver Cromwell, landed at Dublin. His troops killed 2,000 men. A great part of lands in Munster, Leinster and Ulster (Drogheda and Wexford) were confiscated and divided among the English soldiers.
1651 The Siege of Limerick.
1656 Over 60,000 Irish Catholics had been sent as slaves to Barbados and other islands in the Caribbean.
1658 The population of Ireland, estimated at 1,500,000 before Cromwell, was reduced by two-thirds, to 500,000, at his death in 1658.
1659 The Siege of Derry.
1660 Accession of Charles II.
1661–68 The Duke of Ormond ruled Ireland as Viceroy.
1672 Over 6,000 Irish boys and women sold as slaves since England gained control of Jamaica.
1685 Rory Dall O’Cahan (aka Rory Dall Morrison and Rory Dall, 1660-1712), an Irish harper, may have composed the melody later known as the Londonderry air. Accession of James II.
1688 Protestant Apprentice Boys close gates, raise drawbridge and refuse to surrender to Catholic forces in Derry; James II’s Parliament restored all lands confiscated since 1641. Catholics now hold 22% of land in Ireland.
1689 William of Orange lands at Carrickfergus and defeats James II at Battle of the Boyne.
1690 Catholic defeat at Aughrim and surrender at Limerick.
1692–1829 Exclusion of Catholics from Parliament and all professions.
1695 Anti-Catholic Penal Laws introduced. Catholics hold 14% of land in Ireland.
1698 William
Molyneaux pamphlet against England making laws for Irelend.
Early 1700s Ancient Scottish manuscript originating from Lowland Scotland appears to include a melody very similar to the melody of the Londonderry air.
1714 Catholics hold 7% of land in Ireland.
1740 The Forgotten Famine.
1770 Thomas Moore is born.
1775 Henry Grattan becomes leader of the Patriot Party; Daniel O’Connell born at Derrynane, County Kerry. He received early schooling from Parish Priest and was then sent to France to receive further instruction at St. Omer and Douai.
1782 Legislative Independence won from Britain by Irish Parliament.
1789 George Petrie is born.
1798 Act of Union passed.
1803 Robert Emmett’s rising, trial and execution.
1823 Daniel O’Connell’s Catholic Association founded.
1828 Catholic emancipation passed; Tithe war began.
1831 James Hardiman publishes Irish Minstrelry, which includes “Aisling an Oigfhir” which is strikingly similar to what would later be known as the Londonderry air.
1834 Thomas Moore publishes a ten-volume work, Irish Melodies, with one poem, “My Gentle Harp,” set to a melody which may have been an earlier version of the Londonderry air.
1837 Accession of Queen Victoria.
1838 O’Connell’s Repeal Association founded.
1842 The Nation newspaper founded by Thomas Davis.
1843 Blight in the Potato Harvest.
1845–1849 Beginning of Famine; Charles Treveleyan, permanent head of Treasury. Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister, imports Indian corn.
1846 Lord John Russell replaces Peel as Prime Minister.
1848 Fever spreading. Treveleyan winds up Soup Kitchen Act, and retires to write history of famine
1849 Frederick Edward Weatherly is born in Portishead, England.
1848 Smith O’Brien (Young Ireland Leader) arrested. James Stephens flees to France.
1848–49 Worst years of famine; by 1848 through emigration and deaths by famine, Ireland’s population decreased by more than 2 million people.
1851 Blind fiddler Jimmy McCurry plays frequently on Maine Street during fair days at the Limavady market.
1851 Miss Jane Ross of Limavady County Derry annotates an air she heard played by an itinerant piper (possibly Jimmy McCurry) along Maine Street, where her house is.
1852 Thomas Moore dies.
1855 Dr. George Petrie publishes Ancient Music of Ireland, crediting Miss Jane Ross for annotating the Londonderry air.
1856 Stephens returns from France.
1857 Stephens founds Irish Republican Brotherhood. Fenian Brotherhood founded in America.
1861 Beginning of American Civil War.
1863 Irish People newspaper founded.
1865 End of American Civil War. Arrest of editorial board of Irish People. James Stephens arrested and escapes from Richmond Jail.
1866 Dr. George Petrie dies.
1867 Abortive raid on Chester Castle. Fenian rising in Ireland. Clerkenwell explosion.
1869 Gladstone, Prime Minister, dis-establishes Protestant Church in Ireland.