Down by the Salley gardens

In “The children act” Emma Thompson and Fionn Whitehead, playing a judge and a sick boy, duet on Down by the Salley Gardens, a folk song whose words were written by Yeats. It’s a very engaging scene. Emma sings and Fionn plays the guitar.

In the last part of the movie Emma plays the piano and sings alone the same song while the boy is dying with leukemia. The interpretation is poignant and moving.

“Playing the piano at the same time as singing, that was a lot of rehearsal. That took me six months to really get that under my skin. It was really scary, but there’s a tentative quality to it which I really liked because there’s a risk involved when you’re playing and singing live. You ‘re going to make mistakes, and those mistakes contain a lot of the emotion of that scene” Emma said.

Down by the salley gardens
my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens
with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy,
as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish,
with her would not agree.

In a field by the river
my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder
she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy,
as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish,
and now am full of tears.