Danny Boy is a folk song with English lyrics by the lawyer and lyricist Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848-1929). He wrote the words in 1910 in Bath, Somerset, originally to another tune. In 1913 he set them to the traditional Irish air known as “Londonderry Air”, published by Boosey & Company. The melody is credited to Jane Ross of Limavady, who collected it in the mid-19th century. Accounts of how the air reached Weatherly differ: his sister-in-law, Margaret Enright Weatherly (“Jess”), is said to have sent him a copy in 1913, to have sung it to him in 1912, or to have fitted the poem to an air she had heard as a child. The vocalist Elsie Griffin popularised the song, which became one of the most popular of the new century. Ernestine Schumann-Heink made an early recording, and later well-known recordings include those by Colin O'More (1928), Judy Garland (1940, Little Nellie Kelly), Glenn Miller (1940) and Bing Crosby (1941). In 1918 Percy Grainger adapted the melody for wind band as Irish Tune from County Derry. The song is popular at funerals.
