From the East – March 2021
Greetings Brethren,
“Danny Boy” may be the most widely played song after “Happy Birthday” and “Auld Lang Syne”. Could there be a Masonic connection to this classic beautiful tune? Most likely yes.
The lyrics were written in 1910 by Frederick Edward Weatherly (1844-1929). Son of a poor country doctor with a large family in Portsmouth, England. He was sent to study at Hereford Cathedral, where he was an average student. He became active in its music club although he never composed or performed. In his last year the death of a popular dean inspired him to begin writing simple poems that other friends often used for lyrics of the music that they composed. He attended Oxford and after graduating worked as a tutor for a few years before being accepted to the Bar of the Inner Temple. He started a law practice with no less than Henry Dickens, later Sir Henry Dickens, also from a large family and son of the famous author Charles Dickens for whom several Masonic Lodges in England are named. While Charles Dickens is thought not to have been a Mason, he referenced Masons in a positive light in several of his works including “Great Expectations”. Several of his sons are known to have been Masons including both his eldest son Charles and Sir Henry, the most successful of his children and law partner, friend and mentor of Weatherly.
It is reasonable to suppose therefore that Fredrick Weatherly would likely have been a Mason along with his friend and partner, Henry Dickens. Weatherly continued to practice law his whole life despite being a successful and prolific lyrist writing his simple poems, credited with 3,000 songs, and many very popular hits. His “Rose of Picardy” was one of the country’s most popular songs during WW I. In later life he also became a well known lecturer, often at Burns Society dinners and also a broadcaster.
The story of “Danny Boy” is fascinating. Although always recognized as an Irish folk song, the music was recorded on sheet music by an English music collector and the words were written by an English barrister perhaps on a train on the way to a trial or while waiting for a jury. By lucky circumstance the tune was noticed by a British lady composer, Jane Ross who collected Irish folk music. In 1851, while Weatherly was still a child, she heard a piper playing the tune on a corner outside her home in Londonderry (hence its original name “Londonderry Air”). Rushing outside she asked him to play it again as she wrote the music down and then payed him well for his trouble. She later gave the sheet music along with much of her collection of folk tunes to George Petrie who then published it in a book of folk songs, “Ancient Music of Ireland” in 1855. Weatherly’s sister in law came upon the book in 1912 and was struck by one tune, “Londonderry Air”, and sent it to him to maybe write lyrics for it. His immediate response was, no need, I already have the perfect lyrics from a poem I wrote two years ago entitled “Danny Boy”. Those words fit the music like a glove, instantly becoming a number one hit and quickly spreading throughout the world.
The words are both beautiful and haunting with the ability at the same time to easily bring most of us to tears before the second verse. There has been much speculation on the meaning of the lyrics. They are usually thought to be the words of a loving mother or wife to her son or husband leaving for a new life far away in America. But 1910 was also in the era of World War I and could easily be the parting words of a father to his only son going off to war. For a less romantic theory, consider that the words were written while he was still in his criminal law practice, long before Weatherly ever heard the music and at the time “pipes” was slang for prison bars! Let’s hope Weatherly’s inspiration was not a lamenting mother, for whose convicted son “the pipes are calling”. We will likely never know. Regardless of Weatherly’s inspiration, the song has touched hearts around the world for a hundred years and will continue to do so for a hundred more. It has been recorded by such diverse artists as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Kate Smith, Glenn Miller, the Flamingos, Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, Conway Twitty, Patti Page, Jacki Wilson, Harry Belafonte, Dennis Day, Judy Collins, Andy Williams, Johnny Cash, Johnny Mathis, Joan Baez, Carly Simon, Charlotte Church and many more. Not bad for a tune that might have been lost to history but for a Mason who just liked to write simple poems.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
For further reading see “Danny Boy” by Malachy McCourt and “Piano and Gown” by Frederick Edward Weatherly
Fraternally,
Larry Vernamonti WM
“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent, we may led like sheep to the slaughter.”
Bro. George Washington
“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look farther than you can see.”
Bro. Winston Churchill