Danny Boy

  1. GHall
    GHall
    I couldn't find this on any of the lists, so don't think this one has been brought up before. My daughter recently learned this one, loosely based on Roland White' version.



  2. Hendrik Luurtsema
    Hendrik Luurtsema
    In Holland we should say "gezellig". It's wonderful to hear you play together so well around this early christmastree.
  3. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    Y'all sound really great! Love it!
  4. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Prodigy strikes again!
  5. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Nice duet, and good to hear your daughter making the tune hers with her little variations.
  6. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    There's a lot of Roland in your playing and a lot of you too, young lady. Great job. Good backup Dad.
  7. crisscross
    crisscross
    Nice little family band!
    The Londonderry air is on my to-do list for a long time.
    Got to get round to learning it!
  8. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    This is one of those timeless tunes everybody knows and plays, and sings very badly when a few drinks have been taken! I have rarely been at an informal gathering where it is not on offer. I am surprised it has not featured here since December 2015.

    Here is my lockdown-recorded version, beginning on solo, fingerpicked acoustic guitar, then octave and mandolin with guitar backing. I have spared you the singing!

  9. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    I like your arrangement. Yeah, this one usually gets unpacked in these parts as well, people in the audience tear up, etc. It’s amazing difficult to sing well; that high note...
  10. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Very nice John. I've always thought this song was too cliche but your version tells me I am wrong. Very nice.
  11. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    John, you found a great way to arrange and perform this lovely tune. All these strings are ringing like bells.
  12. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Nice guitar intro. as is the whole tune.
  13. Jairo Ramos
    Jairo Ramos
    John, Chapeau! as always, you are the ONE. This is my version with mandolin and melodica, midi backing track.

  14. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Jairo, I’m always impressed by your tremolo. The melodica works great, too.
  15. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks, all. Jairo, what an arrangement. The melodica adds a lot to the overall effect and your tremolo is well executed - not something I am an exponent of!
    Can I suggest that you bring your midi backing track down a bit in your mix, please? It seems to be too dominant as it develops and I want to hear more of your own playing.
  16. Jairo Ramos
    Jairo Ramos
    Thanks guys! Jhon, I understand your point. I use Audacity, and when I use the melodica I prioritize its volume with the backing track, to the detriment of the mandolin. I have to see if in Audacity the tracks can be normalized by sections, I think it can, I have to try. Thanks for your advice!
  17. Pierpaolo S.
    Pierpaolo S.
    Very nice John and Jairo.
    John: it was a plucked string festival. Fantastic,
    Jairo: Nice to find another melodica fan.
  18. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    I don't like this song very much, basically for the reason mentioned by Ginny. But I enjoyed your expert arrangements and the musical talent going into these renditions. It's very interesting how you both arranged the tune to suit your individual style, and you both played it ever so well!
  19. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Interesting point you make there, Dennis. There are lots of tunes and songs that have become the victims of over-exposure and which then suffer in that nobody wants to play them or sing them any more. Ginny and you and I have had these discussions over our collaborations when one of us will try to steer the other away from a tune, yet at times that tune will become the one we end up doing.

    Maybe this is why Danny Boy had a very short airing back in December 2015. I had been playing through several Scottish and Irish airs over the past week or two in moments of idleness and began playing about with Danny Boy as a solo guitar piece. From there it grew into what I have posted above, and you rightly mention the totally different arrangements Jairo and I came up with, his growing into an almost orchestral piece with the midi backing.

    Wonder if anyone else will now post a version, or will it slip quietly back into somnolent obscurity once more? Would it fare better as The Londonderry Air?
  20. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Congrats gents for taking the challenge of wrenching a beautiful tune out of its cocoon of John Hinde cliche and bringing the original back to life, and boy did you succeed.
  21. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Sometimes the emotions attached to certain songs prevent any new exposure, thanks anyway Gents.
  22. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    John, I think that would be an interesting experiment. When playing "Danny Boy", I imagine most people will already have their most or least favourite vocal recordings in their mind, which will affect the way you play it. If it were possible to lose all that mental baggage and play this as the Londonderry Air, results may indeed be different. As we all know, we channel emotion in our playing.
  23. Jairo Ramos
    Jairo Ramos
    It's strange, but I have a hard time remembering the lyrics of even the songs I love the most ... so when I play a song, the melody comes to mind, and not the lyrics. And that with songs in Spanish, not to mention in another language.
    I think that one of the advantages of not knowing a lot about a gender is that you don't have many prejudices. I know so little about the music of Ireland, England or Scotland, that I can affirm without shame that Danny Boy is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, and it is always a pleasure to play along with a great variety of recordings...
  24. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    I was thinking about this song and a few others last night when I couldn't get to sleep. And, John and Jairo, I don't think we should steer away from these because we have deemed them cliche or over exposed. They have become that way because people like to hear them. Also, do we need to get off our high horses and not turn our noses up at songs that are popular or what we may deem to be 'easy'. Are they beneath us because they are easy to play and we think we are too good for them? Well, no we are not, nor should we be. Play, listen, enjoy.
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