Original Version

"Danny Boy"  is a ballad written by English composer Frederic Weatherly in 1913, and set to the traditional Irish melody of "Londonderry Air".

Londonderry Air is an Irish air that originated in County Londonderry, Ireland. Jane Rose (folksong collector) was the one who picked up this Irish folk tune in the 19th century.

Among the American Irish diaspora and is well known around the world. The tune is played as the sports anthem of Northern Ireland's victory in the Commonwealth Games.

In 1910, English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly initially wrote the lyrics for "Danny Boy" with a different melody.

One version that explains the change in music is that his sister-in-law Margaret Weatherly sent him a copy of "Londonderry Air" in 1913, and Frederic modified the lyrics of "Danny Boy" to suit his rhyme and metrics to the new melody.

Another alternative story is that Frederic did not put the poem to any melody, but that his sister-in-law Margaret Weatherly, (who lived with her husband in Colorado, USA), wrote the poem in 1913 for the song "Londonderry Air" which she had heard as a child in California, played by her father and other Irish railroad workers.

There are several conjectures about the meaning of "Danny Boy"; some interpret the song as a message from a father to a son who goes to war or participates in the Irish uprising (as the reference to "pipes calling from Glen to Glen" suggests) or emigrating as part of the Irish diaspora.

The 1918 version of the Weatherly print signature included alternate lyrics, with instructions that "when a man sings, the words in italics should be used; the song becomes" Eily Dear , so" Danny Boy "only it must be sung by a lady ". However, it is unclear whether this was Weatherly's intention.

Weatherly gave the song to vocalist Elsie Griffin, who made it one of the most popular songs of the new 20th century.

Wikipedia extract & translation