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DOWN BY THE SALLEY GARDENS
Down By The Salley Gardens - sometimes "Sally Gardens" - is an Irish song based on a poem by William Butler Yeats, appeared in the 1889 collection "The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems".
“Salley” is for the English “Willow”.
However, Yeats has always clearly indicated that this poem was based on a song he heard from the voice of a woman from Ballysadare (Sligo county): at the time the melody interpreted was probably "You Rambling Boys of Pleasure".
In 1909, Herbert Hugues used the melody "The Maids of the Mourne Shore" which is now sung to illustrate these lyrics.
It was down by the Salley Gardens
My love and I did meet
She crossed the Salley Gardens
With little snow-white feet
She bid me take love easy
As the leaves grow up on the tree
But I was young and foolish
And with her did not agree…
In a field down 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…
It was 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 up on the tree
But I being young and foolish
With her did not agree