Danny Boy and The Catch?

It’s playoff week here in Dallas and on Sunday the Dallas Cowboys will host the San Francisco 49’ers.

For fun, I’m going to share a few memories of Cowboys/49’ers games this week.

When Chris was about 12, we were visiting New Orleans and we had gone to Danny O’Flaherty Irish Pub.  The concert room was open to all ages, so we were able to bring him in.  Linda got to drink a dark Guinness on Draft, Chris and I sodas and we got to hear some amazing music. We visited O’Flaherty ever time we went to New Orleans.   One night someone in the crowd asked Danny to play Danny Boy.  Danny explained clamly but with passion that Danny Boy is not a true Irish Ballad.  It is a ballad written by an English Songwriter Frederic Weatherly and set to the traditional Irish melody of “Londonderry Air.”   Danny didn’t mind English songwriters (me specifically mentioned Lennon and McCartney) but he said what bothered him was people saying it was an Irish song.   He said that that the untruth had been told so often that most people believe it was the truth, that Danny Boy was an old school Irish ballad.

Chris reached over to me and whispered “That is like all the people who say that Joe Montana wasn’t just trying to throw the ball away on ‘the catch.’   We all know that Dwight Clark just got lucky and caught that ball, when Joe was trying to just throw it out of bounds.”   I started laughing which lead to Linda giving both of us a dirty look.  

That’s my boy.