Oh Danny Boy – Shut Up!

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Irish Voice News

Oh Danny Boy – Shut Up!

March 12, 2008

By Cahir O’Doherty

FIRST, as legend has it, St. Patrick banned the snakes from Ireland. Then the AOH banned Irish gay groups from the Fifth Avenue parade.

How do you top that? How about banning the classic Irish song “Danny Boy” in an Irish bar in New York on St. Patrick’s Day?

The singing of the plaintive but eerily beautiful Irish song has been forbidden by Shaun Clancy, owner of Foley’s Pub and Restaurant, located just opposite the Empire State Building off Fifth Avenue.

The 38-year-old Co. Cavan native recently claimed that whenever the song is sung in his pub it draws all the life out of the place, like someone turning on all the lights. Clancy would prefer if the pipes, the pipes would never call again and he doesn’t care who knows it.

Before an outraged traditionalist can grapple with the enormity of Clancy’s actions, which received widespread play across the U.S. last week courtesy of the Associated Press, it must be pointed out that the ban has already begun. But don’t fret. Clancy doesn’t actually hate the song, it’s the awful singers he has a problem with – yes, those bad ones (you know who you are).

Clancy told the Irish Voice, “It’s not the song, it’s hearing it sung badly that I don’t like. I really have nothing against the song. I’m not being disrespectful to “Danny Boy,” I’ve just gotten sick of every time someone gets a few beers in them on Paddy’s Day they think its their inalienable right to belt out a very bad version of it.”

Some sour faced critics grumbled that the ban was just a clever marketing ploy to advertise Foley’s on the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day, but Clancy denies this.

“It was an off the cuff remark of mine that has gone around the world at this stage. I’ve done 70 interviews from seven different countries and there’s been 2,000 stories written about this. But publicity wasn’t why it was done. It was just a remarked that sparked off a reaction.”

The original lyrics for “Danny Boy” were written by English lawyer Frederick Edward Weatherly and published in 1913. Weatherly never visited Ireland, according to Malachy McCourt, a recognized expert on the song and its multiple incarnations, who traced it from its origins to the present in his book Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad.

“It’s a beautiful song when it’s sung by Frank Patterson or Bring Crosby or the Irish Tenors. We were just having fun with it. But tonight (Tuesday, March 11) we’ll perform pages and pages of other Irish songs that aren’t quite as sad as ‘Danny Boy.’”

The ban is ongoing through the end of March. But not every publican feels the same way that Clancy does.

Ciaran Staunton, owner of O’Neill’s on Third Avenue, said, “I am outraged at the lack of respect being accorded to ‘Danny Boy.’” he said. “Real Irish people understand why ‘Danny Boy’ means so much to us.”

Staunton has organized a “Danny Boy” special for St Patrick’s Day featuring McCourt.

“Malachy literally wrote the book on Danny Boy, so we’re delighted that he’s coming to read verses from it,” said Staunton, who is also offering a free Irish breakfast between 8-9 a.m.) to any patrons who can sing a verse from “Danny Boy.”

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