Traditional Irish Folk Songs Not from Ireland

Danny Boy, Molly Malone, and The Black Velvet Band

Feb 17, 2009

Not every great Irish song is from Ireland. In fact, some of the most famous were not written in Ireland at all. Read on for their stories.

The traditions of Irish music evolved separately from the rest of Europe due to its isolation by sea. As such, the songs and even the favored instruments of Ireland are unique, untainted by its neighbors.

Rather than Ireland being influenced by other musical traditions, Irish music spread to the rest of the world. Below are three popular Irish folk songs that were either written by those influenced by Irish music, or traveled with Irish immigrants to become popular in a new land.

Danny Boy (Londonderry Air)

“Danny Boy” is perhaps the most famous of Irish songs. Because of its lyrics revolving around the Irish Diaspora, “Danny Boy" is very popular in Irish communities living outside of Ireland, especially in America, where it is synonymous with Irish-Americans and played to the point of nausea on St. Patrick’s Day.

Danny Boy is one of several sets of lyrics set to the traditional Irish tune “Londonderry Air,” the de facto national anthem of Northern Ireland. The Lyrics to Danny Boy were written in 1910 by English lawyer and writer Fred Weatherly. Weatherly had written them to another tune, but altered it on suggestion from his sister-in-law Margaret.

It is one of the great ironies of music that this most Irish of Irish songs was in fact, written by an Englishman who, as far as is known, never lived in or visited Ireland.

Molly Malone (Cockles and Mussels)

This tragic Irish ballad of a beautiful young Dublin fish monger who dies of a fever has become an anthem of sorts in the city of Dublin. The earliest version of “Molly Malone” was published in 1884, written by James Yorkston. However, it is generally believed that versions of this song existed before the first printing.

Like “Danny Boy,” “Molly Malone” was not written by an Irishman, but by a Scotsman, James Yorkston. Why a Scotsman would set his song in Dublin rather than his own city of Edinburgh implies that there is some truth to the song, although this has not been proven.

A statue of Molly Malone stands on Grafton Street in Dublin, a popular shopping area and site for buskers. The statue is often referred to locally as “The Tart With the Cart.”

The Black Velvet Band

“The Black Velvet Band” is one of the many Irish folk songs that made it over the sea and found a home in the Appalachian Mountains of America. In America, it is usually known as “The Girl in the Blue Velvet Band,” and is highly adapted, becoming a simple tale of love lost--more like "Molly Malone"-- rather than the Irish version of loving the wrong woman.

Although not known as an English folk song, the reference to a British prison colony implies that there may be some cultural crossover due to the conquest of Ireland. The song is popular in Britain as well.

The traditional Irish version of “The Black Velvet Band” tells a story of a young apprentice tradesman. He falls in love with a roguish woman of great beauty, who entwines him in her thievery. The black velvet band refers to the band she used to tie her hair.

Before long they are caught and punished by being sent to “Van Dieman’s Land,” now known as Tasmania. So far from his family, the man continues to follow the Black Velvet Band.

These three songs: “Danny Boy,” “Molly Malone,” and “The Black Velvet Band” represent the influence that Irish music has had over the music of the world. So pervasive is the influence, that one might not be able to tell the difference between what is Irish, and what is not.

The copyright of the article Traditional Irish Folk Songs Not from Ireland in Traditional Folk Music is owned by Craig Sanders. Permission to republish Traditional Irish Folk Songs Not from Ireland in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.