“Londonderry Air” was first published in 1855, but was already considered “very old” at that time. According to current research, it likely evolved from older Irish harp melodies. The earliest known lyrics associated with the melody, according to current research, are Edward Fitzsimons' “The Confession of Devorgilla” (1814). Even though the lyrics fit the melody known today and published in 1855, it is not certain whether they were sung to this melody in 1814. George Petrie received the melody from Jane Ross of Limavady (County Londonderry). Ross explicitly wrote only that the melody was “very old.” She did not know the title. Petrie believed her and therefore published it as an anonymous old Irish air. A frequently cited connection to the blind fiddler Jimmy McCurry (from whom Ross is said to have heard it) belongs just as much to the realm of legend as the widespread belief that harp virtuoso Rory Dall O’Cahan composed the melody in the 17th century. In the Irish and British musical traditions, the term “air” refers to a traditional melody or tune, often a slow, expressive folk melody. It should not be equated with the classical “aria.” Many traditional melodies were collected and published as “airs” without a known composer.

In 1882, Katharine Tynan published a poem titled “Irish Love Song” in her collection *Irish “Love Songs”*, which begins with the line “Would God I Were The Tender Apple Blossom...”. In 1894, Alfred Perceval Graves published the poem for the first time set to the melody of the “Londonderry Air” in the *Irish Song Book* (T. Fisher Unwin, London). The first known recording of this text was made in 1915 by Oscar Seagle. Katharine Tynan married the lawyer and writer Henry Albert Hinkson in 1893; she subsequently published frequently under the name Katharine Tynan Hinkson or simply Mrs. Hinkson, and is credited as the author under this name on subsequent recordings.

The English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Edward Weatherly wrote the lyrics to “Danny Boy” in March 1910, initially for a different melody. After his sister-in-law Margaret (“Jess”) Weatherly, who lived in the United States, sent him a copy of the traditional “Londonderry Air,” he adapted the existing lyrics to fit that melody. The new version was published in 1913 by Boosey & Co. in London. This is how the song came to have its next and most famous set of lyrics.