Back when in the last few weeks I was living in England, my family came to visit me. We ended up in Ireland where we rented a car and crisscrossed the country. My family has quite a bit of Irish heritage and so we spent a fair amount of time in counties where our ancestors had lived. My sisters and I would play a game on buses making up tunes that sounded like Irish jigs. Looking back on it, the locals probably couldn’t have been more annoyed to have a couple of Americans creating celtic music pastiches on the public transit, but it did make a more enjoyable trip for us at least! Many countries have their own style of music. However, I don’t know if there is a country that has as unique and recognizable a style as Ireland. Within that tradition of music, there is one tune that reigns supreme. We know it as Oh, Danny Boy.
That is a rather recent name for the tune however, it dates back much further than those lyrics. The Irish harpist Rory Dall O’Cahan was credited by Bruce Armstrong for writing the tune, called Derry Air, in the 17th century. Although there is some dispute as to whether that harpist existed. I’ve also read articles of someone writing down the tune after hearing a street musician play it in the 19th century, or possibly it being published in a collection of Ancient Irish Music, in 1796. Regardless of its true origins, it is clear that it can very fairly be described as Ancient.
As for the words, Frederic Weatherly wrote them in 1910. Interestingly though, he wrote them for an altogether melody. His sister-in-law, Margaret Enright, heard the Irish tune played in Colorado and thought it was a tune Weatherly should be aware of. She sent it along, and he adjusted the words to the original Danny Boy to fit the ‘new’ tune. Somewhat strangely, Weatherly himself was not Irish, nor had ever set foot in Ireland. Thus, we have the preeminent Irish tune being discovered in America and set to lyrics by an Englishman.
There are many interpretations of what the song is about, ranging from commemoration to lamentation. I find it very thought provoking that we attach a feeling of sadness to a melody that, listened out of context, is a rather happy tune. Every note in the melody is indicative of a major key, a key we associate with happiness. Regardless of that wistfulness and melancholy abound in its recitation. Whether it is simply being so deeply integrated with the tune, or whether the tune has an intrinsic sadness to it, is a question beyond my knowledge. Listening to this arrangement by Percy Grainger, written before the Danny Boy text was set to the tune, I would tend to side with the latter.
As we celebrate the second St Patrick’s day of this pandemic, this tune seems quite apropos. The end is in sight for this troubled time, but the weight of the nearly 3 million deaths will stay with us for the years to come. While I personally have been lucky in avoiding a personal loss, many of us have not been as fortunate. We all are so looking forward to normalcy to return, but until then, please enjoy and find solace in this rendition of Oh Danny Boy by Renee Fleming. Looking forward to happier times!
-John