Danny Boy Lyrics: Learn the Most Famous Irish Song of All! (2024)

FAQs

What is the meaning of the song "Danny Boy"? ›

Meaning. There are various conjectures about the meaning of "Danny Boy". Some interpret the song to be a message from a parent to a son going off to war.

And after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, the strains of “Danny Boy” rose from the memorial services of so many Irish-American police and firefighters who were among the victims. It's not just the notion of loss, but of someday being reunited, that's one of the reasons “Danny Boy” has never gone away.

Although the song “Danny Boy” has come to symbolize the Irish Diaspora and Irish national pride, its author was not Irish at all. Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848-1929) was a busy English lawyer who also wrote novels, children's books, libretti, and the lyrics to some 1500 ballads and songs.

Though it's very much an Irish anthem, the words to Danny Boy were written by 62-year-old Englishman, Frederic Weatherly, of Bath, Somerset, in 1910.

Throughout the years “Danny Boy” has been considered an unofficial anthem by Irish Americans and Irish Canadians. It became popular for funerals and memorial services despite not being an official part of the ceremony and was even banned from funeral masses by some churches.

“Broadsword calling Danny Boy” is a radio call sign John the Castle Manager uses to suggest to Paul Mac something is urgent, in fact critical. It was of course the gravelly voiced, handsome actor Richard Burton's line from the film “Where Eagles Dare”.

Over the decades, the song became ingrained in the cultural fabric of the U.S. and beyond, often serving as a poignant farewell. Notably, Elvis Presley and Princess Diana both had "Danny Boy" at their services, underscoring its universal appeal.

The lyric "The pipes are calling from glen to glen..." refers to the bagpipes signaling the people that the immigration boat is here and it's time to say goodbye. Danny boy is saying goodbye, probably forever. The woman to whom he is singing the lament could be his lover or perhaps his mother.

Ave is a Latin word, used by the Romans as a salutation and greeting, meaning 'hail'.

Danny Boy was written by the English lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1913, and was first sung by the famous opera singer Elsie Griffin in 1915. Danny Boy was a pop song during World War I, sung by the soldiers in the trenches, and throughout Britain, Ireland and America during that time.

What does Danny mean in Scotland? ›

Meaning:God is my judge.

"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" is a lighthearted song in tribute to Ireland. Its lyrics were written by Chauncey Olcott and George Graff, Jr., set to music composed by Ernest Ball, for Olcott's production of The Isle O' Dreams, and Olcott sang the song in the show.

In 1910, Weatherly initially wrote the lyric to “Danny Boy” to another tune but after his Irish-born sister-in-law Margaret Enright Weatherly sent him a copy of “Londonderry Air” in 1913, Weatherly modified the lyrics of “Danny Boy” to fit “Londonderry Air”.

Kenny Loggins had set out to write about ordinary people in typical situations when he wrote this song about his brother Dan. "A lot of the lyric is taken, rephrased, from a letter he wrote me when he and [his wife,] Sheila were deciding to move to Berkeley just after their son, Colin, was born," he told Rolling Stone.

The concept behind Pretty Boy, Dirty Boy was to showcase the singer's dual personality; the "pretty-boy persona" represented by romantic ballads and the "dirty-boy" by reggaeton songs with "seductive" lyrics. During an interview, Maluma explained, "All human beings have a duality.

Loggins wrote the song for his brother, Danny Loggins, in 1966 as a senior in high school, when Danny became the father of a boy named Colin – his first son. "Danny's Song" was included as the B-side of one of their early single releases, "Nobody But You" (U.S. No. 86, 1972).

In the lyrics, the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Jesus. Without a gift for the Infant, the little drummer boy played his drum with approval from Jesus's mother, Mary, recalling, "I played my best for him" and "He smiled at me".