(“danny boy” is a ballad written by english songwriter “frederic weatherly” and usually set to the irish tune of the “londonderry air”)
Frederic Edward Weatherly, KC
(4 October 1848 – 7 September 1929)
english lawyer, author, lyricist and broadcaster. He was christened and brought up using the name Frederick Edward Weatherly, and appears to have adopted the spelling ‘Frederic’ later in life. He is estimated to have written the lyrics to at least 3,000 popular songs, among the best-known of which are the sentimental ballad “Danny Boy” set to the tune “Londonderry Air”, the religious “The Holy City”, and the wartime song “Roses of Picardy”
“derry air” / “derriere”
(it is most closely associated with irish communities)
(though it was written by a brit)
(like the jews who write christmas carols)
initially written to a tune other than “Londonderry Air”, the words to “Danny Boy” were penned by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in Bath, Somerset in 1910. After his Irish-born sister-in-law Margaret (known as Jess) in the United States sent him a copy of “Londonderry Air” in 1913 (an alternative version has her singing the air to him in 1912 with different lyrics), Weatherly modified the lyrics of “Danny Boy” to fit the rhyme and meter of “Londonderry Air”
Weatherly gave the song to the vocalist Elsie Griffin, who made it one of the most popular songs in the new century; and, in 1915, Ernestine Schumann-Heink produced the first recording of “Danny Boy”.
(“jane ross” of Limavady is credited with collecting the melody of “Londonderry Air” in the mid-19th century from a musician she encountered)