"THE dirge-like Irish classic song Danny Boy has been banned for a month by an Irish pub in New York because it’s too depressing and was written by an Englishman.
“It’s overplayed, it’s been ranked among the 25 most depressing songs of all time, and it’s more appropriate for a funeral than for a St Patrick’s Day celebration,‘’ said Shaun Clancy, who owns Foley’s Pub and Restaurant, just off Fifth Avenue opposite the Empire State Building.”
Actually, I think the air itself is beautiful if well played without mawkish sentiment…difficult with something so hackneyed, but hey. Can do without the words, though. FWIW, and I haven’t checked up on this, I think I’ve been led to believe that the tune itself is unattributable/anonymous, but definitely of Irish traditional origin. I’d guess, again without checking, that the words are a typical piece of victoriana?
OK, couldn’t resist checking - here’s what The Fiddler’s Companion has on it (interesting that they reckon it is a variant of “Dives & Lazarus”, best known to ITM people in its “The Star of the County Down” incarnation!) -
Here in Michigan there’s a Detroit bar planning to hold a “Danny Boy” marathon. 1,000 renditions for 50 hours during the weekend of the 15th. Maybe that offsets the ban.
Yes, a very nice informative article.
Notice how often it is correctly referred to as a tune both in the article and in quotes in the article.
As I have said elsewhere in this forum, “Show me a song and I’ll show you a tune.” So often, session musician types like to to think that in ITM “tunes” only means jigs, reels and suchlike. These are dance tunes and over time, in a sessions context, they are referred to as "tunes’ to distinguish them from songs and slow airs. Thats fine but it doesn’t mean that only jigs, reels and the like are tunes and other melodic forms are not.
