Down by the Salley Gardens

Notes

That beautiful tune is most commonly known as “Down by the Salley Gardens” (sometimes spelled Sally). It is a classic Irish air, with the famous words written by the poet William Butler Yeats in 1889, who was trying to reconstruct a fragment of an old song he heard an old woman sing in County Sligo.

The lyrics were later matched to a traditional air called “The Maids of Mourne Shore”, collected by Herbert Hughes in 1909. A “salley” (or sally) is simply an old term for a willow tree, from the Gaelic word saileach.

The Lyrics

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.

Playing Tips

• The Key Signature: It sits perfectly in standard G Major with just the single F♯ on the top line.

• The Phrasing: The melody relies heavily on the long, lyrical lines. Watch out for the leap up to the high E (e3 d B2 AG) in the third measure of each phrase—it gives the tune its characteristic, bittersweet lift.

• The Rhythm: It flows best when played with a bit of natural rubato (flexible tempo) rather than a rigid metronomic pulse, letting the notes mimic the natural cadence of the sung words.