See the traditional Irish song Danny Boy lyrics and listen to the legendary Paul Robeson deliver a stirring rendition of the St. Patrick’s Day favorite.
The song has been sung and recorded by a remarkably diverse number of music artists from several musical genres. Among the song’s performers both past and present are Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Cher, Tony Bennett, Charlotte Church, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughn and Sinéad O’Connor.
Paul Robeson in 1942, Photo credit: Gordon Parks (Photo source: Library of Congress)
Among them, Renaissance man Paul Robeson, the trailblazing African-American actor, singer, writer, orator and activist of the 1940s and 1950s, who was trained as a lawyer at Columbia University and was Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Rutgers University (where he also had an outstanding collegiate football career). In 1943, he became the first black actor ever to portray William Shakespeare’s Othello on Broadway. Robeson is noted for his concert performance of Negro spirituals as well as other traditional folk songs from around the world.
In his signature basso profondo voice, he sang the haunting Danny Boy with much emotional richness. The song is from his album ‘Ballad for Americans and Great Songs of Faith, Love and Patriotism.’
The song itself, which has become so inseparable from St. Patrick’s Day, has quite a history. The lyrics are set to the Irish song Londonderry Air which is believed to date back to 1855. The original song makes reference to Derry a city in Northern Ireland, which is said to be one of the longest continuously inhabited places in Ireland. The lyrics have been attributed to the English lawyer Frederick Weatherly, and said to have been written in 1913. Read more here: The Legend and History of the Song ‘Danny Boy’.
Source (and lyrics source): Who the heck is `Danny Boy’ and where in the heck is he going, anyway?
Here is the YouTube Video Link
Danny Boy Lyrics
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 flowers are dying
‘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
‘Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You’ll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an “Ave” there for me.
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.
Danny Boy Lyrics: Paul Robeson Danny Boy Video
