THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
117-John McDermott-Danny Boy.
1992-Has never charted in the UK.
Best Bit-At 2.42.The lyrics are set to the traditional Irish melody ‘Londonderry Air.’Prudish Victorians concerned that Londonderry Air’ bore too close a resemblance to the phrase ‘London derriere,’ preferred to refer to it by the title ‘An Air From County Derry.’Heaven only knows what they would have made of some of today’s music.
The lyrics to Danny Boy were written in 1910 by the English lawyer Frederic Weatherly,(1848-1929) he is estimated to have written the lyrics to at least 3000 songs including the religious ‘The Holy City’ and ‘Roses of Picardy,’a popular song during the first World War.
Weatherly wrote Danny Boy to a different tune,it was his sister-in-law Margaret who at the time was living in America who sent him a copy of Londonderry Air in 1913,he did not know of its melody at the time and thought it a perfect fit to his lyrics.
The first recording of the song was by English Opera singer Elsie Griffin,who made the song the most popular of the new Century so far. A lady by the name of Jane Ross is credited with collecting the melody of Londonderry Air in the mid 19th Century from a musician she encountered in Limavady,County Londenderry.
There are various interpretations as to what the lyrics actually mean,some think it refers to Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland,others think it might refer to a gay relationship,but the most accepted one is that the song is a message from a parent to a son going off to war.
‘Oh Danny boy the pipes,the pipes are calling,from glen to glen and down the mountainside.’
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The countdown continues tomorrow at 1.0.pm.