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Danny Boy: Songs
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As "Danny Boy" increased in popularity so did speculation as to its origins. Anne Geddes Gilchrist in an article previously referred to in the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (1934) claims that Jane Ross may well have noted the melody in 4/4 instead of 3/4 time. If 3/4 time is substituted for 4/4 then the melody resembles "Aislean an Oigfear", which had been collected by Edward Bunting in the 1790s.
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The lyrics for the song published in 1913 were written by an English lawyer, Frederick Edward Weatherly, who never even visited Ireland, according to Malachy McCourt, author of the book "Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad." Weatherly's sister-in-law had sent him the music to an old Irish song called "The Derry Air" and the new version became a huge hit when opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink recorded it in 1915.
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"If you were looking for a typical Irish ballad, 'Danny Boy' would be very, very far down on my list," he says. "It's almost more of a melting pot-type song than anything. It's an Americanization of an Irish song.
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The addendum is not found in the 1913 sheet music of Danny Boy (American edition). Possibly male singers in those days may have been embarrassed by singing a song addressed to a man, so the suggestion was added at a later printing.
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