DESCRIPTION:
Salley Gardens music by Herbert Hughes in 1909.

Down by the Salley Gardens" (Irish: Gort na Saileán) is a poem by William Butler Yeats published in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems in 1889

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

The verse was subsequently set to music by Herbert Hughes to the traditional air The Moorlough Shore (also known as "The Maids of Mourne Shore") in 1909]
In the 1920s composer Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) set the text to her own music.
The composer John Ireland (1879–1962) set the words to an original melody in his song cycle Songs Sacred and Profane, written in 1929–31.
There is also a vocal setting by the poet and composer Ivor Gurney, which was published in 1938.
Benjamin Britten published a setting of the poem in 1943. In 1988, the American composer John Corigliano wrote and published his setting with the G. Schirmer Inc. publishing company. (borrowed from wiki and added material from Irish drinking songs manual (1942) page 27

Pictures are Sandie Hipp, Scott Gamble, and public domain prints, what was on image was asked for permission by request.
The music is James Galway on a RCA VICTOR 1998 press release (that I own in the archive of GMP&A). details of the cd are as follows...

Album Features
UPC: 090266311026
Artist: James Galway (Flute)
Format: CD
Release Year: 1998
Record Label: RCA Victor
Genre: Celtic, International

Track Listing
1. Riverdance
2. Tears in Heaven
3. In My Life
4. Over the Sea to Skye
5. From a Distance
6. Like a Sad Song
7. The Minstrel Boy
8. Beauty and the Beast
9. The Last Rose of Summer
10. The Wind Beneath My Wings
11. Lament For the Wild Geese
12. Song of the Seashell
13. I Will Always Love You
14. Down by the Salley Gardens
15. Somewhere Out There - (from "An American Tail")
16. Danny Boy

Details
Playing Time: 58 min.
Contributing Artists: The Chieftains, Phil Coulter, Cleo Laine
Distributor: BMG (distributor)
Recording Type: Studio
Recording Mode: Stereo

Album Notes
Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 contains a selection of folk standards and '80s and '90s pop songs as interpreted by James Galway, one of Ireland's most popular flautists. Occasionally, as on "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "I Will Always Love You," the music flirts with bland easy listening, but at its best it is sweet, gentle and soothing, displaying Galway's elegant touch. ~ Rodney Batdorf

Portions of this page Copyright 1948 - 2016 Muze Inc. All rights reserved.