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Why the name Londonderry Air?
Londonderry and Derry refer to the same place, a city in the north of
Ireland, and also to the surrounding county. Supposedly the city of
Derry was founded by St. Colmcille, although archaeological evidence
shows that people were living there thousands of years earlier. There is
an excellent museum in the city, which is worth a visit if you want to
find out more. The name of the city was actually "Doire", corrupted to
"Derry" by people who can't pronounce Irish. It thought to derive from
an Irish root meaning "oak tree".
Moving quickly along in history, about a millenium later the government
of England was having a difficult time colonizing Ireland because of the
fierce and warlike clans living there, especially in the north of the
country, Ulster. The monarchs of England, almost all of whom were
notorious cheapskates, were continually looking about for ingenious ways
to conquer places without actually having to put up the money
themselves, or run the risk of unpopularity if they lost. In the case of
Ireland, some of these schemes of the "Brish gummit" (as it is termed
nowadays in Ulster) are still producing unfortunate long-term
consequences.
In 1608, King James I gave the city of Derry to the City of London
corporation. I guess the deal could be summed up by saying that if the
City of London could figure out a way to chase all the inhabitants out
of Derry, they would be allowed to keep the loot, minus a percentage for
the King of course. If they lost, well too bad. In celebration of this
historic agreement, the name of Derry was officially changed to
Londonderry. (For further information, check out the Northern Ireland
Tourist Board's History of Derry.)
The linguistic outcome of all this today is that, if you think that King
James's deal with the City of London was a good idea, you call both the
city and county "Londonderry". If you do, you are probably a supporter
of the Unionist movement that seeks to keep Ulster a part of the United
Kingdom. If you think it was a bad idea, you call both "Derry", and you
are probably a supporter of the Irish Nationalist cause. Or you might
just be someone who thinks it's confusing for kings to be going around
changing the names of places all the time for no good reason.
You can find plenty of discussion about the political side of the
question elsewhere, but here let's look at the musical side. We have an
air, collected in county Derry/Londonderry, and it doesn't have a title.
What do we call it?
If you were a proper Victorian, there's no way you were going to call it
the Londonderry Air, much less the Derry Air, because of the improper
sentiments that these titles might suggest. My parents tell me that in
their youth in Australia, it was usually called the Air from County
Derry. (This would, I suppose, support Winston Churchill's theory that
Australia was inhabited by "convicts and Irishmen".)
My mother also sends the following information, referring to an
arrangement of the tune by the Australian composer Percy Grainger:
Just another note about Danny Boy, that I grew up in Australia believing
to be the Air from County Derry. We were looking through some LP's last
night (back to vinyl yet!) and found a Mercury Wing Classical Favorites
stereo LP SRW18060, COUNTRY GARDENS and other favorites by Percy
Grainger {played by} Eastman-Rochester Pops, Frederick Fennell,
conducting. The cover notes included the following:
"Irish Tune from County Derry was harmonised in memory of Irish
childhood friends in Australia." Considered by many to be Grainger's
masterpiece of harmonization, the tune was collected many years ago by
Miss Jane Ross of New Town, Limavady, Ireland. Grainger has set it for
many instrumental combinations. So there's another variant on the name
for it. It doesn't say who wrote the notes, but the bits in quotes for
each of the works on the record are Grainger's original comments.
The references to Londonderry Air that I've seen don't go back any
earlier than the late 1930s. For example, the Glenn Miller Orchestra
recorded Danny Boy (Londonderry Air) in February 1940. Bing Crosby's
version was recorded in July 1941 (reference). (So many different things
I could check up on!) Londonderry was an important American naval base
during WWII, but the US hadn't come into the war in 1940.
Back to top of page.
The Percy Grainger connection
Percy Grainger was an Australian composer who led a very colourful and
interesting life. Musically he bore some resemblance to Ralph Vaughn
Williams, in that he often collected folk tunes and produced art music
settings of them that were quite sympathetic to their original
character. The Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne (which,
coincidentally, both my parents attended) is the repository of his
papers and other memorabilia.
As I mentioned, just above, Percy Grainger composed a very highly
regarded setting of the Air from County Derry. I mentioned him in
relation to Ralph Vaughn Williams, who also made use of the Air from
County Derry as a hymn tune.
* A MIDI version of the Percy Grainger setting can be found at The
Silvis Woodshed. Thanks to Tim Henderson for the reference.
* At Princess Diana's funeral, the tune was called An Air From County
Derry.
* An early (1950s) parody was Elsa Lanchester's Linda And Her
Londonderry Air
How does this relate to Danny Boy? Well, read on ...
Back to top of page.
Why did Fred Weatherly wait for his sister-in-law to send him the Air
from County Derry from America?
Fred Weatherly The basic answer, I suppose, was that he had no interest
in Irish folk music. But what caused that momentous point in history,
when Danny Boy lyrics first met the Air from County Derry tune? And why
at that particular moment in time?
On this Limavady website the following information appears:
His sister-in-law had heard the tune played during the Colorado gold
rush. Many Irish immigrants had left these shores for the New World
before, during and after the great famine. Among them would have been
many talented musicians from in and around the Roe Valley and it may
well have been one of these who gave her the tune.
Similar (or the same) information is found in a column by Joan Morris in
the Contra Costa Times (California):
As Irish immigrants came to this country to escape the famine, they
brought the melody with them, and in 1912, Margaret Weatherly heard the
song played in the Colorado gold camps.
Weatherly and her husband, Edward, had come from London to San Francisco
at the turn of the century, and eventually settled in Ouray, Colo., in
search of riches. Weatherly sent the music to her brother-in-law, Fred
Weatherly, an attorney in England who wrote songs on the side.
Perhaps the original source for this comes from Jim Hunter's The Origin
of Danny Boy:
It was in Ouray, Colorado that Margaret Weatherly came into contact with
of the tune in 1912. Her husband Edward had abandoned his London medical
practice in 1889 and emigrated to San Francisco. It was here that he met
and married Margaret Anastasia Enwright before they moved to Colorado in
1908 as part of a gold rush to that area of the United States.
One day Margaret heard gold-prospectors, believed to be from the Roe
Valley, playing a beautiful tune. She immediately thought of Edward's
brother, Fred, an eminent English lawyer whose spare time passion was
writing song lyrics. She persuaded them to let her have a copy of the
tune, which she sent to her brother-in-law in Somerset in England.
When he says "believed to be from the Roe Valley", I think he means
that's what he believes himself. But Australians also have a lot of
experience in gold mining, and it wouldn't be too surprising if some of
them turned up in Colorado as well. Perhaps even some who were fans of
Percy Grainger. A most ingenious suggestion appears on Prof's
Traditional Irish Music Pages, a very interesting site well worth a
visit. (There are background discussions available on a number of other
songs as well.)
The point is made that Percy Grainger's arrangement was published in
1911. Might this have been her source? In support of this theory,
"knowing that Australian born Grainger finally made his home in the USA
in 1914, might his arrangement have first been published in the US, and
thus available to Weatherly's sister-in-law before it reached Europe?"
Interesting thoughts indeed. This would put Grainger in the company of
many another person who dusts off an old folk song, only to see it bring
fame and fortune to other people. (Edward Bunting, Nic Jones, Jimmy
Crowley, Dave van Ronk...)
A final irony is that when I look at the CD versions of the Grainger
arrangement (for example at the Grainger Museum), it is titled Danny
Boy!
Back to top of page.
Fred Weatherly's own description of writing Danny Boy.
In 1912 a sister-in-law in America sent me "The Londonderry Air". I had
never heard the melody or even heard of it. By some strange oversight
Moore had never put words to it, and at the time I received the MS. I
did not know that anyone else had done so. It so happened that I had
written in March of 1910 a song called "Danny Boy," and re-written it in
1911. By lucky chance it only required a few alterations to make it fit
that beautiful melody. After my song had been accepted by a publisher I
got to know that Alfred Percival Graves had written two sets of words to
the same melody, "Emer's Farewell" and "Erin's Apple-blossom," and I
wrote to tell him what I had done. He took up a strange attitude and
said that there was no reason why I should not write a new set of words
to the "Minstrel Boy," but he did not suppose I should do so! The answer
of course is that Moore's words, "The Minstrel Boy" are so "perfect a
fit" to the melody that I certainly should not try to compete with
Moore. But beautiful as Grave's words are, they do not to my fancy suit
the Londonderry air. They seem to have none of the human interest which
the melody demands. I am afraid my old friend Graves did not take my
explanation in the spirit which I hoped from the author of those
splendid words, "Father o' Flynn." However, "Danny Boy" is accepted as
an accomplished fact and is sung all over the world by Sinn Feiners and
Ulstermen alike, by English as well as Irish, in America as well as in
the homeland, and I am certain "Father o' Flynn" is equally popular, as
it deserves to be, and its author need have no fear that I shall be so
foolish as to write a new version of that song. Here are my words:
DANNY BOY 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,
It's you, it's 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,
It's I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow,—
Oh, Danny boy, O Danny boy, I love you so!
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If 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 Avè 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!
It will be seen that there is nothing of the rebel song in it, and no
note of bloodshed. "Rory Darlin'" on the other hand is a rebel song. It
has been set sympathetically by Hope Temple. No doubt if Sir William
Hardman were alive, he would forbid it being sung at Surrey Sessions
mess.
Fred E. Weatherly, K.C.
Piano and Gown
London & New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1926
pp. 277-279
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