Salley Gardens

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Irish folk song, with the poem of William Butler Yeats
From the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Photo: Darren Larsson
Song page on website


A poem by William Butler Yeats published in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems in 1889. Yeats indicated in a note that it was "an attempt to reconstruct an old song from three lines imperfectly remembered by an old peasant woman in the village of Ballisodare, Sligo, who often sings them to herself." Yeats's original title, "An Old Song Re-Sung", reflected this; it first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in Poems in 1895.

"Salley" is an anglicisation of the Irish saileach, meaning willow, i.e., a tree of the genus Salix. Willows are known as "salleys", "sallies" or "salley trees" in parts of Ireland. Source: Wikipedia



The Cascades, Ballisodare (Ballysadare, see map) in Ireland, photo by Noel Kennedy

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 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.

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More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart: 
Piros alma (Red Apple)
Asiye
Széna, széna (Hay, Hay)
Madárka, madárka (Birdie, Birdie)
Rorogwela
Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


This song is part of Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com