Down by the Sally Gardens

Background

The lyrics to this song were written by W.B. Yeats as poem, which was published in 'The Wanderings of Oisín and Other Poems' in 1889. Yeats noted that his poem was "an attempt to reconstruct an old song from three lines imperfectly remembered by an old peasant woman in the village of Ballisodare, Sligo, who often sings them to herself."

It is thought that these lyrics may originally have been part of the ballad 'The Rambling Boys of Pleasure'*.

In 1909, Herbert Hughes set the poem to the traditional air 'Maids of Mourne Shore'. The song has since been recorded by many notable musicians, such as James Galway, Clannad, and Loreena McKennitt.

This harp arrangement is by Brenda O'Riordan.

*Wilgus, D.K. '"Rose Connoley": An Irish Ballad'. The Journal of American Folklore, 92: 172-195