Danny Boy

I had the song Danny Boy stuck in my head the other day. I guess I have an excuse since St. Patrick’s Day is coming up soon. At any rate, I went to the iTunes Music Store and did a search for “Danny Boy”. I came up with more than 150 matches. Granted not all of them were the song Danny Boy, but most (I’d guess more than 90%) were. It was a rather odd experience to listen to the different styles that this song had been redone in. Many of the tracks were instrumental and a few were just down right strange (rock versions of Danny Boy?).

But the thing that threw me for a loop the most was that Danny Boy was written by an English lawyer. Unbelievable, the Irish have managed to completely own this song! Wow. I wonder how that happened?

I couldn’t decide which version I liked best from the ones available on iTunes, so I haven’t purchased a version of Danny Boy yet. I’ve narrowed it down to a dozen or so versions that sound good to me. I’m looking a for a version that is really emotional and pulls on the heart strings. I’ve got two daughters, maybe I’m going soft 🙂

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,
‘Tis you, ’tis 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,
‘Tis 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 flowers are dying,
And 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!