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The mission of the KelticDead Music initiative is to find tunes and songs from around the world that have

Celtic, Folk, World, Americana, and Seafaring origins, and arrange them into simple sheet music formats for folk

musicians to use, as well as provide links for the music that follows the arrangements to help in hearing how it can

be played. In addition, other links are provided for the stories and possible lyrics about the selections within video-

based, KDM Broadsides for a music-education experience.

All the selections and sheet music content provided in the KelticDead Music initiative are from

traditional, made-public, made-public with credits, or cited credits where applicable. This material

content is given with permissions. Patrick O. Young, KelticDead Music.

Salley Gardens

Sally Gardens is a short ballad written

by one of the 20^thCentury’s greatest

poets, William Butler Yeats (1865-

1939). Yeats composed this

ballad/poem based upon an Irish folk

song of “The Rambling Boys of

Pleasure,” and he published it 1889

under the title of “An Old Song Re-

Sung.” It was later changed to “Down

by the Salley Gardens” in 1895.

Since the publication of the

ballad/poem, it has been set into a

melody by several composers including

Herbert Hughes, who used the

traditional Irish melody of “The Maids of

Mourne Shore.” As a note, many folk

mistakenly play “The Maids of the

Mourne Shore” in total, for the short

ballad created by Yeats. However,

while the melody still works for the

Made public photograph of William Butler Yeats

poem, I’ve selected an arrangement

(1865-1939).

based upon “The Rambling Boys of

Ple sure.”

W.B. Yeats lived in a time where there was still a lot of division between the Irish

and the English due to the Penal Laws enacted during the 16^thCentury. Yeats

belonged to the Protestant, Anglo-Irish minority, where many of whom considered

themselves to English who happened to be born in Ireland. However, Yeats firmly

affirmed his Irish nationality and featured his cultural roots with Irish legends in his

poems.

KelticDead Music