Danny Boy is a song consisting of alternate lyrics to the tune of the Londonderry Air, written in 1910 by Frederick Weatherly, an English lawyer. The song is widely considered an Irish anthem, and is used as the anthem of Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games, even though its writer was not Irish, and the song was and is more popular outside Ireland than within.

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!

Recordings

• Conway Twitty recorded a rockabilly version of this song.
• Johnny Cash recorded a version of this song on Volume IV of his American Recordings series, the last album he recorded before his death.
• Roy Orbison did an acclaimed rendition of this on his 1972 Memphis album.
• The British label Chandos has released a recording of Percy Grainger's beautiful setting of this tune for wind band as part of its series of the complete works of that composer.

External links

• The Origin of Danny Boy

Danny Boy is also the stage name of Chicago native Daniel Ray, a contempary African-American soul singer. He is signed to Death Row Records, or "Tha Row". He made his debut on 1994's Murder Was The Case soundtrack with the R&B charter "Come When I Call". He is best known for singing the choruses of 2Pac songs like "I Ain't Mad At 'Cha", "Picture Me Rollin'", and "Toss It Up". He has the distinction of being the only Row artist to never leave the controversial label, and is the only member of the original Death Row artists still signed besides Kurupt. This may or may not have something do with the fact that he was adopted by Suge Knight as a teenager. He is currently working on his solo album with Tha Row.