“Danny Boy” arrived a century ago and never left. But arrived from where? Most people assume it’s from Ireland, but it’s not. It was written by an Englishman, Fred Weatherly, a prolific songwriter – and later successful lawyer – who published 1,500 songs.

“One of the mysteries has always been is how this Englishman, who’d never been to Ireland, very upper crust, British, could write something that immediately took off for the Irish,” said Anthony Mann, Weatherly’s great-grandson. “Fred wrote so many songs that he never knew which one was going to be a go-er. It was like launching a series of pigeons really.”

Actually, at first “Danny Boy” didn’t fly. The words were right but the tune was wrong, which is where Weatherly’s sister-in-law, Margaret Weatherly, comes in. She was an Irish immigrant who sailed to America with Fred Weatherly’s brother in search of silver in Colorado. It was on a trip back to England in 1912 that Margaret Weatherly introduced Fred Weatherly to the ancient Irish melody, “The Londonderry Aire.”

Fred Weatherly fused that haunting melody with his heavy-hearted words and something magical happened. “Danny Boy” became a hit. It’s not just the notion of loss, but of someday being reunited, that’s one of the reasons “Danny Boy” has never gone away.