Musicroom – Sing Belfast Lyrics

Danny Boy

Oh, Danny Boy the pipes, the pipes are calling.
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side,
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling.
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 here in sunshine or in shadow.
Oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so!

But when 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 you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.

Oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy, I love you so!

Notes on Regional song:
There are many theories about how old the song is or where the tune came from.

It was first annoted in 1851 by Jane Ross from Limavady in the Roe Valley, who, according to the story heard a street fiddler playing it. It was first published by Dr George Petrie as the ‘Londonderrry Air’ in 1855. Many lyricists tried to write words for the air but the most long lasting and popular are those by Frederic Weatherly, a lawyer from Somerset who had been sent the tune by his sister-in-law, Margaret who had emigrated to America and heard it played by gold prospecting émigrés from the Roe Valley. He had penned the words to ‘Danny Boy’ two years earlier and realised they would fit this air perfectly. It was published by Boosey in 1913 and was first recorded by Percy Grainger and many others since.

In his 1926 autobiography “Piano & Gown”, Fred expressed an aspiration that his words would bring both traditions together in Ireland. "Danny Boy" has become a neutral symbol of belonging and has been accepted by all denominations.