"Down by the Salley Gardens" (''

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: Gort na Saileán'') is a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

published in ''

The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems ''The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems'' was the first collection of poems by W. B. Yeats. It was published in 1889. In addition to the title poem, the last epic-scale poem that Yeats ever wrote, the book includes a number of short poems that ...

'' in 1889.

History

Yeats indicated in a note that it 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." The "old song" may have been the ballad ''The Rambling Boys of Pleasure'' which contains the following verse: :"Down by yon flowery garden my love and I we first did meet. :I took her in my arms and to her I gave kisses sweet :She bade me take life easy just as the leaves fall from the tree. :But I being young and foolish, with my darling did not agree." The similarity to the first verse of the Yeats version is unmistakable and would suggest that this was indeed the song Yeats remembered the old woman singing. The rest of the song, however, is quite different. Yeats's original title, "An Old Song Re-Sung", reflected his debt to ''The Rambling Boys of Pleasure''. It first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in ''Poems'' in 1895.

Poem

:Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet; :She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet. :She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree; :But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree. :In a field by the river my love and I did stand, :And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. :She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs; :But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

Location

It has been suggested that the location of the "Salley Gardens" was on the banks of the river at Ballysadare near Sligo where the residents cultivated trees to provide roof thatching materials. "Salley" or "sally" is a form of the Standard English word "sallow", i.e., a tree of the genus ''

Salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

''. It is close in sound to the Irish word ''saileach'', meaning ''

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

''.

Musical settings

The verse was subsequently set to music by Herbert Hughes to the traditional

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"The Maids of Mourne Shore" in 1909. In the 1920s composer Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) set the text to her own music. The composer

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(18791962) set the words to an original melody in his

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'' Songs Sacred and Profane'', written in 192931. There is also a vocal setting by the poet and composer

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, which was published in 1938.

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published a setting of the poem in 1943, using the tune Hughes collected. In 1988, the American composer John Corigliano wrote and published his setting with the G. Schirmer Inc. publishing company.

Recordings

The poem has been part of the repertoire of many singers and groups, mostly set on "The Maids of Mourne Shore"'s melody. Notable recordings include: *

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on his 10-inch 78rpm Decca set (LA 30), with piano accompaniment by

* John McCormack in 1941, by EMI, reissued on Pearl's "Final Recordings 1941-42" (1995) *

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in 1949 *

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his album ''Western Wind'' (1958) * Kenneth McKellar on his album ''The Songs of Ireland'' (1960) *

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on her joint-debut album of folk songs, ''

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'' (1965) * Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy on their album, ''Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy'' (listed as "Sally Gardens") (1976) * Andy Irvine on

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's album '' After The Break'' sang the "old song" "You Rambling Boys of Pleasure" set to the poem's usual melody (1979) *

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on their live albums ''

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'' (1979) and '' Clannad Live in Concert'' (2005), and on the compilation album ''Celtic Myst'' (1997) *

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recorded a flute instrumental version which has appeared on several of his albums *

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on his album ''Branduardi canta Yeats'' (1986) *Soprano

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recorded Benjamin Britten's arrangement on her album ''Love Songs'' (1988) *Male soprano

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accompanied by Theodore Kotepanos on piano, on the album ''Recital'' (1989) * Tomás Mac Eoin, who recorded it with instrumental accompaniment by

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, released by Mac Eoin as a single in 1989 and also on the 2008 collectors' edition of the Waterboys album

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on the Album ''intuition'' (1993) *

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on their greatest hits album '' Collection'' (1996) *

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on her album ''Wandering Home'' (1997) and with

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during Transatlantic Sessions 2 (1998) * Tamalin, who recorded an Irish language version of the song on the 1997 compilation album ''Now and in a Time to Be'', a collection of Yeats' poems set to music *Bardic, on her album ''Greenish'' (1998) *

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, in a recording used during the end credits to the 1998 film ''

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'' *

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of Celtic Woman on her solo CD '' The Water is Wide'' (2000) * Andreas Scholl on the CD ''Wayfaring Stranger'' (2001) *

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on her album ''Straight from My Heart'' (2002) * Jim McCann on the album ''Ireland's Greatest Love Songs'' (2003) *South Korean

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on his album ''Salley Garden'' (2003) *

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, and

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on the album ''

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'' (2003) *

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on ''A Diadem'' (2005) *

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, also from Celtic Woman, sung it on her solo CD A ''Celtic Journey'' (2006) *

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have released a number of recordings of a John Kelley arrangement of the Hughes melody (with lyrics for an additional middle verse written by Channing Hughes) *Soprano

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on her album ''Into Paradise'' (2006) *

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on ''40 Shades of Blue'' *

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in an arrangement by

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, who recorded an instrumental version for their ''Choice'' EP (2008) *

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who performed the song as part of Richard Thompson's '' 1000 Years of Popular Music'' in a live DVD (2008) *

on their album ''Room to roam – collectors edition'' (2008) *The Canadian singer and songwriter

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on her album '' The Wind That Shakes the Barley'' (2010) *

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recorded a version, featured on her album ''

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'' (2011) *Japanese singer Hitomi Azuma, for the ending theme of the

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series '' Fractale'' (2011) *

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on her album ''Keep Cool Fool'' (2012) *The South Korean opera singer

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on his album ''Oriental Love'' (2012) *

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, a famous a capella singer, on his YouTube channel (2014) *

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, on his album '' A Year of Songs'' (2015) *

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on his album ''The Lost Boys'' (2015) * Emma Thompson as Mrs Justice Fiona Maye in '' The Children Act'' (2017) * Steve Forbert on his album ''More Young, Guitar Days'' (2002) and also on ''Best Of The Downloads, Vols.1&2'' (2008) * Celtic Woman on their album ''

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'' (2021)

Notes

External links

Ariella Uliano: 'Salley Gardens' song from the album 'A.U. (almost) a Compilation', 2009.
{{Authority control Poetry by W. B. Yeats Irish songs