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
I'll be here in sunshine or in shadows
I'll be here, oh Danny boy, I'll miss you so.
But if you fall, as all the flowers are falling
And If you're dead, as dead you well may be
I'll come and find the place where you are lying
And kneel and say an Ave there for thee.
Repeat But come ye back...
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me. [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/johnny_cash/danny_boy.html ]
The song was written in 1910 by frederic weatherly to another tune and did not catch on. Weatherlys sister in law sent him the music to londenderry aire, which he borrowed and it became the danny boy as we know it. The irish and others have supposedly considered it a ballad of a father to a son going off to war. The music itself clearly states however that it is danny boy if sung by a woman and eily dear if sung by a man. Weatherly wrote hundreds of songs in his lifetime and like the rest of them danny boy is just a love song and nothing more.