[Robert R.]

Is the wording in the song ‘Danny Boy’ about a real person, or does it refer to something else?

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Name : Robert R., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 70, City : Roseville, State : MI, Country : United States, Occupation : Retired, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, 

[Madeline S.]

Intrigued by the questions, I did an Internet search, which led me to the URL http://www.standingstones.com/dannyboy.htm. The author feels that the composer of the lyrics deliberately did not specify the gender of the singer or his/her relationship to Danny Boy so that as many people as possible could sing the song – and buy the sheet music!

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Name : Madeline S., Gender : F, City : West Long Branch, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Librarian, 

[Guy]

Whether this song is an authentic Irish folk song or not (I’ve never seen any writing credits for it, but there are some indications that it may be a ‘composed’ folk song), it belongs to a group of Irish folk songs that involve a loved one (usually the mother or lover) lamenting a boy’s enlistment into the army. ‘Mrs. McGrath,’ ‘The Wars of America,’ ‘Johnny has Gone for a Soldier’ and ‘Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye’ (from which ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’ is descended with nearly the same tune) are some others. Many times the songs have the lad returning with amputations, and ‘Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye’ actually has Johnny returning as a basket case, with no arms, legs or eyes. The reason for these types of songs was that the Irish, when they went to enlist, were joining the British army, an army of occupation, to go fight in the foreign wars of England, whether in the French and Indian War of North America, the Napoleanic wars or other colonial wars (as ‘Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye’ says, ‘I’m happy for to see you home, all from the island of Soolon [Ceylon]’.)

From all I’ve heard, ‘Danny Boy’ is traditionaly sung from the point of view of the boy’s father, and the main theme is not so much the fear that the son will be killed or maimed (although that subtext is certainly present), but that the singer will be dead when he returns. This and the wording of the song show that the song is different from the rest and may not have grown from the oral tradition but was instead composed. But as I said, I’m not sure about this, and it makes the song no less beautiful or sad. By the way, the music is from a tune called ‘The Londenderry Air,’ a song of unrequited love.

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Name : Guy, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian Humanist, Age : 43, City : Birmingham, State : AL, Country : United States, Occupation : Cashier/clerk, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

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