Down By the Sally Gardens Alt ernative. Title Folk Song Arrangement Composer Dyson, Peter: I-Catalogue Number I-Cat. None force assignment Movements/Sections Mov'ts/Sec's: 1 Year/Date of Composition Y/D of Comp. 2010 First Pub lication. 2010 Librettist William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Language English Average Duration Avg. Duration: 5 minutes.
Tune of the Day: Down by the Sally Gardens
Traditional Irish air
“Down by the Salley Gardens” is the title of a poem written by William Butler Yeats, first published in 1889. Originally, the poem included no melody. In 1909, Irish composer Herbert Hughes set it to the traditional air “The Moorlough Shore” (also known as “The Maids of Mourne Shore”), and this has since remained the most widely sung setting of the poem.
“Salley” or “sally” is a form of the Standard English word “sallow”, meaning a willow tree.