No, Danny Boy....

[Coemgen]

No Danny Boy? NO DANNY BOY???? Such outrage! Qhuick, bring out the pitchforks & torches!!!!

<--Ozman

[Wompet]

I've been resisting the urge to post this, but:

[beloitpiper]

Auld Argonian posted that link earlier.

[Erisianmonkey]

For those of you who like the song Danny Boy, one of the most haunting renditions of it is the one on Johnny Cash's American IV:When the Man Comes Around. If Danny Boy usually gives you chills or breaks you into tears, this one will freeze you cold or cause you to flood the room like Alice when she opened up like a telescope.

[PiobBear]

i always thought that Danny Boy was about a son who was sent away to France during WW1...

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 you back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'tis I'll be there 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 will sleep in peace until you come to me.

Written in 1910, the lyrics to "Danny Boy" predate WW I. They refer to the Great Famine of 1845-1849, when at least 1.1 million to 1.5 million died and an equal number immigrated. Of those few who could afford passage on the "coffin ships" (one in five would die on the voyage) to the New World, often whole families could afford only one ticket, in the hopes that their loved one could find work and send money home to buy food for the entire family. Ireland was an agrarian barter society where rents and other debts were paid in agricultural products, hundreds of tons of which were exported by absentee landlords throughout the famine. Under Trevelyan's free market economics, what precious little food that was imported for famine relief was sold (but of course only so much was offered for sale so as to not depress the English grain markets). Most rotted in warehouses, as nobody had any money with which to buy it. It was a very distinct possibility (by "Black '49", the height of the Famine, considered highly probable) that a sweetheart or wife would die long before their loved one ever returned.

Whether or not you think "Danny Boy" or "Fields of Athenry" maudlin or overplayed, the destitution and mass starvation of 8 million people should be remembered and memorialized, particularly on St. Patrick's Day.

[Clockwork John]

Whether or not you think "Danny Boy" or "Fields of Athenry" maudlin or overplayed, the destitution and mass starvation of 8 million people should be remembered and memorialized, particularly on St. Patrick's Day.

Very true. Let us not forget what those that came before us endured. And no matter what you think of Amazing Grace, remember the end of slavery that it commemorates.

[Wompet]

Auld Argonian posted that link earlier.

Well, that's what I get for reading the first few pages at work - no access to YouTube.

[Big Paul]

A local pub is holding an all day "Oh Danny Boy" Marathon!!

Linky!