No, Danny Boy....

[pipesndrumsnun]

Uh oh, I can just see it now! Riled Religous go on Rampage!

[BoldHighlander]

I have to say it gets jsut a little bit boring after the first few times...

yeah, it's like Stairway to Heaven...overplayed..

Unless it's being done by the Pogues

[Jerry]

I have always liked the song, and still will no matter who wrote it. One of the most inspiring playings of it I can remember was at our annual retirees Christmas party, a few years ago. One of our group, named Danny, of course, had just died and as all of the retirees and current employees stood hand and hand in silence, someone played a CD recording of "Danny Boy". So, yes. it is a sad song, and is often overplayed, but I still like it.

[Coemgen]

Personally, I like it.

But then, I also listen to the same song over, and over, and over, et cetera ad nauseum, without getting bored by it.

It annoys the *expletive* out of my family

[Yaish]

Pubs can ban whatever they want, but of course patrons who want to hear the song will go elsewhere.

Same for pipers. If you don't like playing Amazing Grace, then don't become a piper for hire. Businesses serve their patrons, not the other way around.

[Mac y]

Is Danny Boy overplayed, or played at the wrong moments? Sure, but I would ask those who are now bored with it to give it another chance. To find that version that is out there, or do one yourself for that matter, that makes it special. There are plenty times when the national anthem is hard to sit through. We know it and probably heard it done better, but then you hear someone belt it out and you get that feeling in your gut and say "that's how it should sound"-at least according to you.

I think it is a great song, and the lyrics being added later don't take away from it at all. It can be about whatever you want it to be in the end. The fact that an Englishmen wrote the now famous lyrics should not be imortant but I realize it may be harder for some to let that little bit of fact slip by.

I would recommend a hard to find documentary done by PBS call Danny Boy: In Sunshine or in Shadow. It goes through the history of the song from the Londenderry Aire music to the later addition of the lyrics. There are some good impromptu reditions done by Ronnie Drew-that should make the hair on your neck stick up-and Shane McGowan among others. And they dont seem to mind singing the "Englishman's" words.

[Amoskeag]

Okay...I have nothing against the tune..it's a beautiful melody...if you've ever seen the movie Brassed Off, one of the most touching parts of the film is when the colliery brass band plays it outside their fallen director's hospital window...it gets me entirely verklempt just like the part where they sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" under Babe Ruth's hospital window in The Babe Ruth Story.

I'm just kinda fed up with the abuse and overuse of the song...and if Dennis Day is listening from the afterlife, yeah...I mean you, buddy.

But here's the Brassed Off scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKDYE6ZGUV8

...you will, no doubt, recognize several very familiar faces.

And if you need to cheer back up after that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU

...damn, I love youtube!

Best

AA

I needed both of those today.Thanks
Bob

[beloitpiper]

Pubs can ban whatever they want, but of course patrons who want to hear the song will go elsewhere.

Same for pipers. If you don't like playing Amazing Grace, then don't become a piper for hire. Businesses serve their patrons, not the other way around.

When I'm hired, I play whatever my employers pay me to play. I don't have to like the tune, but I'll play it. But when I'm playing at my school or performing at a pub or something and somebody shouts out "Danny Boy!", no, I probably won't play it.

[ccga3359]

24 hours later and I'm still put off about this. I think it no coincidence that the barman chose March as the month to ban this song and because the lyrics were written by an Englishman. The is a little ditty that is quite popular south of the border entitled "Star Spangled Banner". I'm curious if this song is banned during the month of July as the tune is originally an English drinking song composed by Englishman John Stafford Smith. Kudos though to Francis Scott Key for his updated powerful lyrics. Getting off the soap box now.

[macwilkin]

24 hours later and I'm still put off about this. I think it no coincidence that the barman chose March as the month to ban this song and because the lyrics were written by an Englishman. The is a little ditty that is quite popular south of the border entitled "Star Spangled Banner". I'm curious if this song is banned during the month of July as the tune is originally an English drinking song composed by Englishman John Stafford Smith. Kudos though to Francis Scott Key for his updated powerful lyrics. Getting off the soap box now.

You're not the only one, Graham.

T.