Down by the Salley Gardens, my love and I did meet W B Yeats Nevertheless, it has become one of the most recorded Irish songs of all time and has attracted the attention of performers from widely different musical backgrounds. Down by the Salley Gardens has an unusual background for a song that has passed into the Irish folk music tradition.ĭown by the Salley Gardens was written by W B Yeats, who is generally known as one of Ireland’s greatest poets and not usually associated with being a song writer.
